De/Constructing the Iranian Other: Captivity, Neo-Orientalism, and Resistance in Three Paradigmatic American Memoirs A dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English By: Hossein Nazari Department of English School of Humanities and Creative Arts College of Arts University of Canterbury September 2015 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... iv Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................... vi Chapter One ................................................................................................................................................ 1 Introduction: Inscribing Iran in the West ..................................................................................................... 1 Historical Significance and Earliest Figurations ....................................................................................... 3 Fabricating an “Axis of Evil” ..................................................................................................................... 8 Constructing the Iranian Other in “Theory” .......................................................................................... 21 Iranian Others in Others’ Literature ...................................................................................................... 31 Configuration of the Study .................................................................................................................... 36 Chapter Two .............................................................................................................................................. 43 Not Without My Daughter: The Mother of Neo-Orientalist Best-sellers ................................................... 43 Reception ............................................................................................................................................... 46 Resurrecting the American Captivity Narrative ..................................................................................... 50 Tales of Caution and the Mixed Marriage Menace ........................................................................... 59 Ghost Authors .................................................................................................................................... 71 West Meets East: Clash of Civilization and Un-Civilization .................................................................... 72 Writing Iranians Colonially ..................................................................................................................... 77 Defilement and Contamination ......................................................................................................... 78 The Cult of Iranian Domesticity ......................................................................................................... 80 Affirmation, Negation, and Bestialization .......................................................................................... 82 Multitudinous Others ........................................................................................................................ 88 The Linguistic Sovereignty ................................................................................................................. 89 The Mad Muslim Man ............................................................................................................................ 93 Going Native: From American Gentleman to Iranian Brute .................................................................. 96 “Veiled Humanity”: The Oriental Accomplice ........................................................................................ 99 Willing Convicts Vs. Western Rebels ................................................................................................... 101 The Villain Writes Back ........................................................................................................................ 106 Chapter Three .......................................................................................................................................... 111 Reading Lolita in Tehran: Opening Neo-Orientalism’s Pandora’s Box ..................................................... 111 Synopsis ............................................................................................................................................... 112 Reception ............................................................................................................................................. 113 Reader Responses ................................................................................................................................ 117 Auto-Orientalism ................................................................................................................................. 120 The Front Cover ................................................................................................................................... 127 Damsels in Distress: Reading Muslim “Lolitas” in the West ................................................................ 131 Behind the Veil: The Topos Obligé of Feminist Orientalism ............................................................ 135 Bridging the “Oriental Harem” to the “Free World” ............................................................................ 151 From Neo-Orientalism to Neo-Conservatism ...................................................................................... 155 From the Western Canon to the West’s Cannons ............................................................................... 162 Curricular and Minority Questions ...................................................................................................... 180 The Western Novel .............................................................................................................................. 182 Ahistorical Historicism and Learned Amnesia ..................................................................................... 186 Chapter Four ............................................................................................................................................ 196 Jasmine and Stars: Strains of Dissent and a Fledgling Alternative Discourse .......................................... 196 Jasmine and Stars: Cracking the Orientalist Monolith ......................................................................... 204 The Eternal Forough: The Rebellious Bard .......................................................................................... 219 My Uncle the Painter: Reinscribing Iranian Masculinity ...................................................................... 223 Women Without Men: The Latter-Day Persian Scheherazade ............................................................ 229 The Good, the Missing, and the Faceless: Unmasking Lolita in the West ........................................... 234 Tea with My Father and the Saints: Humanizing the Persian Patriarch .............................................. 238 Reading Beyond Jasmine and Stars ..................................................................................................... 239 Chapter Five: Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 244 Towards an Ambivalent Future ............................................................................................................... 244 Works Cited ............................................................................................................................................. 250 Acknowledgements Gratitude is something of which none of us can give too much. For on the smiles, the thanks we give, our little gestures of appreciation, our neighbors build their philosophy of life. (A. J. Cronin) When I left Iran for the land of The Long White Cloud to embark on my doctoral study, never in my wildest imagination did I envision that the path to its completion would be so tortuous a voyage. Now that this expedition has come to an end, I cannot but be most grateful to the gracious munificence of the noble souls that have made this achievement a reality. I would like, therefore, to seize this opportunity to appreciate and acknowledge the benevolent efforts of those who assisted me throughout this project. I am most grateful to my wife, Sara, who despite the exigencies of her own PhD, patiently bore the pressures of our hectic life and remained my best companion in times of distress and uncertainty. Had it not been for her unwavering support, this thesis might never have come to conclusion. I wish to apologize to her for all the tribulations she had to endure in the turbulent process of my study. I am especially beholden to my parents, and Sara’s, for their faith in me, their prayers, and encouragements that always made me more resolute in achieving my goals. Words fail me to appreciate the reassurance, succor, and compassion that my sister has bestowed upon me throughout this process. In conducting this research, I have benefited from the insights, support, and compassion of my supervisors. I am thankful to Dr. Maureen Montgomery, who assisted me with my application for