[...]orrors of daily life within a semicolonized atmosphere of a red-light district of a northern ="nms">Iranian city
="prgrph">-there is an imagery of closure and suffocation
(Sa'edi revealing='lgc'>:) the ="trms">material despair of a colonial condition leading (in high speed) to the entropy of cultural-individual ethics
under the overwhelming weight of tangible misery
='lgc'>--cognize='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the immediate ="trms">material urgency of the third ="trms">world subject
(Dandilian gathering around to watch the taking of the picture ='lgc'>='lgc'>-->) the third ="trms">world subject has assumed the ="trms">schizophrenic role of a voyeur himself, ="trms">spectating his own ="trms">literal-="trms">symbolic rape but not fully understanding it as such, while the real ="trms">agent of power remains camouflaged in semi-invisibility
(="ppl">Mohaghegh='lgc'>:) the ideological content of Dandil stands ='thdf'>the notion that the ="trms">technological advancement of the western ="trms">world has turned the peripheral individual into its unknowing accomplice همدست, a vital participant in the abuse and mutilation of his own locality
(a Dandilian policemen remarking='lgc'>:) “They ='lgc'>[westerns='lgc'>] are not beggers like us. they all have private cars. their whores spend four or five hours a day just playing around in the beauty shops.” ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> for Sa'edi that is the pathological fantasy endemic to the inner workings of a colonized mind. the third ="trms">world subject perceiving itself as the negational instantiation of occidental greatness ='lgc'>==> swallowing down the civilizational hierarchies of its oppressor's self-projecting image
(preparing for the coming of rapist colonizer) the Dandilians rush to make the Madame's house clean and tidy='lgc'>: “='lgc'>[...='lgc'>]the curtains had been drawn aside. Pots of geranium had been placed on the wall and beside the steps='lgc'>[...='lgc'>]” ='lgc'>='lgc'>~-> ="ppl">Baudrillard's theory of simulation ='lgc'>: the Dandilian ="trms">presenting to the colonizer a Disneyland, ='strcls'>*a play of illusions and phantasms='strcls'>* ='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>~->='qstn'>? Dubai='lgc'>: self-affirmation via the domination of the constructed other='lgc'>]
(the american officer leaves the next morning with a mocking ="trms">laughter and he refuses to play and the Dandilians can't do anything)='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the civilizational dichotomy remains intact in spite of the horrifying events that have transpired, with the trafficked deflowered ="trms">child serving as a ="trms">="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">metaphor for the cultural-political mistreatment of the third ="trms">world under colonial rule
="large lg2" stl="font-size:110%">
on Akhavan's “Adamak” (“Stick-Figure”) ='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">historical treachery committed within Akhavan's nostalgic Stick-Figure='lgc'>]
demonization of the television's arrival
="prgrph">-television as a “magical box” an artificial ="trms">phenomenon that “entrances” its audience
again ='thdf'>the idea of authenticity is largely emphasized here, as the television is perceived as a “foreign” entity and therefore an enemy to the millennial ="trms">history of the province
new medium ='lgc'>=/= indigenous modes of ="trms">communication/expression (of which the roving ="trms">storyteller is the ultimate instantiation)
(poignancy of the) ="trms">poet's ="trms">anthropo="trms">morphic profile of the new ="trms">technologically oriented media
="prgrph">-Akhavan's re="trms">presentation ="trms">symbolizes the ="trms">storyteller himself, lamenting his own erasure from the moment of the now (or it is his prophecy for the imminent destruction of the new media in the coming islamic regime='qstn'>?)
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">aesthetic testament to the possibility for a third ="trms">world revolutionary ="trms">imagination to emerge from the ruins of the colonial era ='lgc'>[, ='strcls'>*from the ruins of the empire='strcls'>*='lgc'>]
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> re="trms">presenting the third ="trms">world as in a state of complete existential-cultural atrophy (tahlil تحليل رفتن) ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Hoda
='strcls'>**anticolonial ="trms">literature reaffirms the all-encompassing grasp of ="trms">modernity over peripheral subjectivity ='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>--> marginal leader (Mamitua Saber's Marginal Leadership in a Culture Contact ="trms">Situation)='lgc'>]
(="ppl">Mohaghegh > Huyssen on ="ppl">Baudrillard='lgc'>:)
="ppl">Baudrillard's notion of the ='strcls'>*silent mass='strcls'>* of the ="trms">spectators disables any analysis of ='strcls'>*heterogeneous subject ="trms">position in the act of reception='strcls'>* ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Laura
any economic or institutional analysis of ="trms">apparatuses of image production is rendered obsolete by ="ppl">Baudrillard's notion of an almost self-generating and monolithic machinary of image production ='lgc'>[...='lgc'>] (='lgc'><='lgc'>-- ="frds scrmbld">Laura should be very aware of this)
="ppl">Baudrillard's ="trms">society of simulation does not allow for such distinctions ... simulation, after all, may simply be the latest version of the ideology of the end of ideology
='lgc'>}='lgc'>='lgc'>--> part of the theoretical ="trms">apparatus of ='strcls'>*anticolonial ideology='strcls'>*
one immediate d="trms"nttrm="danger,stranger">anger of this approach is that it recklessly dismisses anything as="trms">sociated with the other side of the binary (of West/East, self/other, first-="trms">world/third-="trms">world, ="trms">modern/pre="trms">modern, etc.) ='lgc'>==> overlook the subversive utility and democratic accessibility of certain ="trms">technological innovation ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> evident in Shariati's ultra-atavistic endorsement for an ="trms">aesthetic tradition='lgc'>: “intrusion of the machine into the humna-half may go so far as to paralyze man; it destroys creativity. ="trms">imagine a type-="trms">written page that can be imposed upon millions of people, while before the advent of the type="trms">writer everyone was free to use his creativity to the utmost in calligraphy” ='lgc'>--="ppl">Mohaghegh='lgc'>='lgc'>--> it is not reflecting on the ="trms">historical reality that the exercise of calligraphy was always linked to a feuda="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list class structure, and often ex="trms">="trms"nttrm="cluster,club">clusively to the confines of the palace court, whereas the printed word open to a more widesp="trms"nttrm="already,spread">read audience independent of ="trms">material status
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> anticolonial ideology ='lgc'>==>
="lsts lst1">•carries out the pre="trms">supposed will of ="trms">modernity by homogenizing its very own constituency, diminishing any possibility for individual initiative or insubordination
="lsts lst1">•pre="trms"nttrm="cluster,club">cludes the advent of outsider radicalism independent of some ="trms">religio-civilizational confrontation with ="trms">modernity
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> “there can be only one diagnosis ='lgc'>==> only one elixir” ='lgc'>==> produce an antidote that is equally colossal in scope, shape, and execution
='lgc'>}='lgc'>==> ='strcls'>***the local is no longer accepted by anticolonial ideology as a worthwhile site of contestation='strcls'>***
='lgc'>}='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (Sa'edi ='lgc'>+ Akhavan ='lgc'>+ ...) ='lgc'>='lgc'>='lgc'>~=> ='strcls'>*messianic defender='strcls'>* of the national ="trms">history ='lgc'>: the sole harbinger جلودار of a ='strcls'>*return to the real='strcls'>* ☠ ='lgc'>[='lgc'>=/= cheerleader='lgc'>]
_,-='lgc'>+-._
.-’ ‘’-._
/ \
‘ ='lgc'>~. \
/ ='lgc'>~`’ ) .=” , )
| I ( ='lgc'>~ (
\ ‘"” `=' ='lgc'>+
`.,_ `”;:L0Ve’ ='strcls'>*’
`='lgc'>~'='lgc'>~.’ )_Y_0_U!\
='strcls'>*disease becomes temporary cure='strcls'>* (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> practiced by Al Ahmad, Shariati, artists ='lgc'>[as irony and with the always problematic conception of the “masses” توده مردم mardom='lgc'>]='lgc'>:)
“='lgc'>[let's='lgc'>] re-employ the same reactionary elements in order to stir the masses, to restore awareness, and to fight superstition”
='lgc'>[still very common within critically-minded humanist ="trms">social ="trms">science schollar artists is the tendency to use critical theory (as diverse as it is) ='strcls'>*to ="trms">interrogate reality='strcls'>*
for us (='lgc'>[left in="trms">heritance='lgc'>] as postcolonia="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list, feminist, or biopolitician) the modus operandi of critical theory is to derealize, is to say='lgc'>: “this is an expression of paar.” “this is discursive formation.” “this is ="trms">material assembly of objects.” ='lgc'>='lgc'>~= (an attempt to say) “this isn't real.” ='lgc'><='lgc'>-- this has been essentially a really powerful force and set of political strategies of the left ='at'>@="nms">apass; this modus operandi is a killer blow for climate change from a leftist perspective (because the climate change is very real) (='lgc'>=/= speculative realism)='lgc'>]
Khomeini's cassette-tape revolution (radio medium infused with anticolonial propaganda) de="trms">monstrates the insufficiency of ="ppl">Benjamin's stance that “mechanical reproduction of art changes the reaction of the masses toward art...”
the ="trms">symbolic fury of Khomeini's voice is only magnified in its cult-value through its trans="trms">mission over the air waves, testifying more to MacLuhan's ="trms">interpretation of the persuasive impact of radio
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">technological media in ="nms">iranian anticolonialism does not elicit the democratizing effect anticipated by ="ppl">Benjamin
from='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">metaphysical awe ='lgc'>--to='lgc'>='lgc'>--> banalized ="trms">horror
each year the islamic republic itself reenacts the arrival of the Khomeini in ="nms">tehran airport through a procession of myriad cardboard ="trms">interact and converse with these mock-images of the imam in a kind of makeshift, state-run passion play
post 1979 ="nms">iranian cinematic renaissance
="lsts lst1">•medium of film achieved in the decolonized space
="lsts lst1">•hooked into the contemporaneity of the localized apocalyptic (in="trms">finitesimal becomings)
="lsts lst1">•="trms">present as close an ="trms">interpretation of the unthinkable strangeness of reality as possible
="lsts lst1">•on an ongoing desertion of the real
="ppl">Adorno='lgc'>: “works that make ="trms">socially univocal discursive judgments thereby negate art as well as themselves” ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Laura's judgment on the fascist body (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> can ="trms">consumption be resistance='qstn'>? ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Laura='lgc'>: becoming fascist body ='lgc'>==> ='qstn'>? )
the medium of film-making in ="trms">present-day ="nms">iran attempts solely to bring the crypto-vantage of the everyday into obscurity-ridden view (to leave less clear ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> my pre-2012 videos ‘Vagabond,’ ‘Constant Prince,’ and ‘city of domes’), allowing for a critical distance on the part of the ="trms">spectator to examine one's own being-in-the-="trms">world in raw, b="trms"nttrm="failure,blur,plur,lurk,tallur,slur">lurred form (the truth is haze itself ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="frds scrmbld">Hoda)
exoticization of the local ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> reduce it to a nativist enterprise
(="ppl">Mohaghegh > Tomlinson='lgc'>:) the everyday culture has in="trms">gested foreign elements from exogenous sources, with the various elementss gradually brcoming “="trms">naturalized” within it ='lgc'>=/= image of pure, ="trms">internally homogenous, authentic, indigenous culture
="large lg10" stl="font-size:129%">
Sharjah art foundation of the Emirate's ='strcls'>*postcultural ="trms">imagination='strcls'>*
="trms">literary front
Hedayat, Yushij, ="ppl">Shamlu, Forough
Hedayat's The Blind Owl variants of a “will to chaos”
middle eastern avant-garde's vision of the ="trms">writing-act ='lgc'>--sketching='lgc'>='lgc'>--> a fugitive post="trms">modern map of escape from its grasp
='lgc'>[in='lgc'>] moments of great ="trms">social disorder
='lgc'>==> secret ="trms">societies, iconoclastic ="trms">trajectories, a type of consciousness that perceives the catastrophic-apocalyptic hint at each turn
(how an eastern or third ="trms">world vanguard characterize itself in the heart of major ="trms">historical tremors='lgc'>:) ='lgc'>[="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">listen to their ='strcls'>*tone of aggression='strcls'>*:='lgc'>]
Nima='lgc'>: “with my ="trms">poetry i have driven people into a great conflict; good or bad, they have fallen in confusion; i myself am sitting in a corner, watching them='lgc'>: i have flooded the nest of ants”
Forough='lgc'>: “all those who are involved in creative work have as their motive ... a ="trms">sort of need to confront and struggle with annihilation”
="ppl">Shamlu='lgc'>: “the ="trms">children of the depths,” “the ="trms">children of the storm,” “the horsemen,” “the bold ones,”
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> de="trms">finition of the ="trms">poetic ="trms">world as a protosectarian space
رابطه مریدی مرادی
دار و دسته
قبيله
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(="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Alice,Shariati">Ali, to a subculture of) persecuted and end="trms"nttrm="danger,stranger">angered
='lgc'>==> peripheral narative (marginal leadership) become a force of int="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rigue and seduction (among ="nms">iranian youth)
="prgrph">-how did ="trms">poetry ="trms">respond to ="trms">historical events of atrocity and ="trms">transition
="prgrph">-did the ="trms">poets understand themselves as resembling a mystical, criminal, mercenary, or revolutionary edifice='qstn'>?
a="trms">morphous, obscure, versatile (thinkers and ="trms">writers launching an intellectual-existential offensive against the disenchantment of the ="trms">modern age)
along ="trms"nttrm="search">archetypes='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•power
="lsts lst1">•hostility
="lsts lst1">•banishment
="lsts lst1">•solitude
="lsts lst1">•desire
="lsts lst1">•sacrifice
contradictory experiences of the ="trms">modern cityscape of the middle east ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> at once a site of='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•autocracy and insurgency
="lsts lst1">•concealment and detection
="lsts lst1">•connectivity and alienation
="lsts lst1">•="trms">integration and crumbling
="lsts lst1">•="trms">gesticulation and idleness
="frds scrmbld">Setareh's topics='lgc'>:
experiences of upheaval, hysteria, sabotage, collective suffering
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="frds scrmbld">Sana's topics='lgc'>:
existential-spatial understanding of ="trms">questions of cruelty, betrayal, torment, annihilation
(="trms">poets finding themselves ="trms">consumed with) the distinctive emergence of “the martyr”='lgc'>:
='lgc'>[-='lgc'>]Akhavan ="trms">writing/witnessing at the time of reterritorialization of ="trms"nttrm="disturban">urban space during Mossadegh era='lgc'>: the subdivision of streets, districts, and neighborhoods into dueling sectors of power and resistance.
Akhavan's lament in “W="trms">inter”
disenchantment, bitterness, ="trms">semiotic disorientation
touch='lgc'> = final sensory prism
Akhavan's task='lgc'>: to protect the domain of radical individuality (='lgc'>==> ="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Alice,Shariati">Ali's subjectivity)
(="ppl">Mohaghegh asking='lgc'>:) ='strcls'>*is the artist charge a mere diguise of influence and supermacy='qstn'>?='strcls'>* or ='strcls'>**is the firmness of its ="trms">articulation sanctioned by some dominant elsewhere or other="trms">worldliness='qstn'>?='strcls'>**
='strcls'>*does the ="trms">poetic consciousness believe itself of an elite unknown rank (against the monolith)='qstn'>?
="trms">sociopolitical discourses either bore or aggravate Akhavan ='lgc'>--only='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (transient ="trms">historical ="trms">specificity of) ='strcls'>*turmoil ="trms">demands ="trms">poet's greater urgency='strcls'>*
(the ="trms">poet has earned the station to say) “no more of this” (“it's enough”) ='lgc'>~ an ='strcls'>*order='strcls'>* ='lgc'>[='lgc'>=/= wisdom, sage, diplomatic ="trms">response of an ="trms">interlocutor, truth-telling, equal dialogue, negotiation='lgc'>]
="trms">poet's expertise and sensitivity='lgc'>: the ="trms">storyteller's intimate ="trms">relation to impermanence and destruction (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Alice,Shariati">Ali, ="frds scrmbld">Sana, ="frds scrmbld">Hoda, ="frds scrmbld">Setareh)
='lgc'>[-='lgc'>]Baraheni's depiction of the spatial domination of the city by Pahlavi regime from 1952 to 1979 ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> SAVAK ="trms">responded to and fueled a striking development in the political consciousness of the ="trms"nttrm="disturban">urban centers ='lgc'>==> labyrinthine evolution of the rebel form
hie ="trms">poem “An Epic in Reverse” (Akhavanian reversal) neighborhoods of stigma, filth, and backwardness ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> hybrid of ="trms">animality and criminality
(="ppl">Mohaghegh asking='lgc'>:) what is the ="trms">author's recourse once stranded behind those iron bars, and now acquainted with the gleaming tools and ="trms">instruments of the guards and royal executioners='qstn'>? for Baraheni, the answer seems to rest within a ="trms">literary turn toward the arsenal of vulgarity, where ="trms">language is forced to howl and curse again, to match the shock treatment and flagellation (شلاق shalagh) ='lgc'>==>
="lstsrd">1. to un="trms">veil the degradation and depravity of power, to show it as unbeautiful and disgusting in its most bude form
="lstsrd">2. to wage some reciprocal hate against power, to maximize the rawness of what is happening
='lgc'>[-='lgc'>]="ppl">Shamlu's (dead-end) sightings of public execution and secret police night-raids of 1979-81
(="ppl">Mohaghegh describing islamic state of ="nms">iran through ="ppl">Shamlu='lgc'>:) a new iteration of revolutionary terror, millenarian clerical establishment that foresees self-congrave a feverish certainty across every corridor of ="trms"nttrm="disturban">urban reality (='lgc'>=/= conservative dis="trms">position of an ordained Shah seeking to keep his domination,) the vengefull return of a long-suppressed counterabsolutism that has been waiting ="trms">anxiously for its chance to unleash and envelop a national identity in its now-seething ideology
="prgrph">-bringing the celestial abstractions of a faith crashing down into tangible existence ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> they must ='strcls'>***sew, lash, and brand their ="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">righteous-ecstatic modalities into awesome ="trms">materiality='strcls'>***
the ="trms">vocabulary of='lgc'>: the prophetic, the messianic, the inspired, the sacred
='lgc'>}='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*="ppl">Shamlu's avant-gardism had always led him to experiment with rotating styles of folkloric ballads, rebel anthems, existential meditations, doomsday rants, elegiac oration, ="trms">children's lullabies ='lgc'>--into='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (a singular blast of an) account of a devastated ="trms"nttrm="disturban">urban space that moves somewhere between legend, omen, song, myth, fairy tale, and war cry ='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="ppl">Shamlu ="trms">responding to an islamic revolutionary ideology that had en="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">listed its own alchemy of proclamation, lethal con="trms">sortiums of drives that fuse the most savage, the most medieval, the most ="trms">modern, and the most post="trms">modern='lgc'>]
="lsts lst1">•being coming completely seized beneath the ="trms">density of revelatory vision
="lsts lst1">•the ultra-alertness and in="trms">somnia of pure anticipation ='lgc'>: a calculus of assurance that ‘they are coming’ ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> omen
Pasdaran='lgc'>: the unpre="trms">dictable and insatiate arc of extremity of a paramilitart coalition
='lgc'>=/=
SAVAK='lgc'>: ="trms">formulaic ="trms">technocracy of a ="trms">scientific approach to persecution, extraction, and confession
Pahlavi monarchy='lgc'>: the administrator of ="trms"nttrm="disturban">urban violence was part amateur, part pseudo-scholar, part civil servant, part serial killer
='lgc'>=/=
Ayatollah theodracy='lgc'>: the administrator of ="trms"nttrm="disturban">urban violence was part vigilante, part crusader, part cult ="trms">member, part thug
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">poet must epitomize the last unequivocal administrator of ="trms"nttrm="disturban">urban violence
does ="trms">writing have a redemptive (='lgc'>=/=='qstn'>? reparative) function='qstn'>?
="large lg3" stl="font-size:112%">
the ="trms">author would necessarily venture to rescue something profound (from the state of dejection)
="trms">poet's keyword='lgc'>: ='strcls'>*conflagration='strcls'>* حريق, fire ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> a middle eastern ="trms">aesthetics
most ="nms">iranian ="trms">writers of the new ="trms">poetry movement have e="trms">viscerated, melted, flooded, iced over, or burned down a city at some point in their artistic career (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="ppl">Shamlu's Yal-o Ejdeha یل و اژدها)
="large lg6" stl="font-size:111%">
cumulative ="trms"nttrm="danger,stranger">angers
towards a harmful eloquence شيوايى ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="ppl">Shamlu
="large lg4" stl="font-size:111%">
pay attention to the hyper-subjective ="trms">positioning (='lgc'>=/= hospitality, ="trms">cosmopolitanism, transindivualism) of the “I” of the ="nms">iranian ="trms">poet='lgc'>:
='strcls'>*Akhavan='lgc'>: “It is I, your nightly guest, a forlorn gypsy. It is I, an afflicted stone that has been kicked around. It is I, the lowly insult of creation, an untuned melody.[...]