[...]ation 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

="large lg6" stl="font-size:113%"> 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


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

(="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

="large lg1" stl="font-size:137%">
="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'>:

="large lg6" stl="font-size:123%"> ='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'>?

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)

cumulative ="trms"nttrm="danger,stranger">angers

towards a harmful eloquence شيوايى ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="ppl">Shamlu


pay attention to the hyper-subjective ="trms">positioning (='lgc'>=/= hospitality, ="trms">cosmopolitanism, transindivualism) of the “I” of the ="nms">iranian ="trms">poet='lgc'>:

="large lg6" stl="font-size:100%"> ='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.”
منم من، میهمان هر شبت، لولی وش مغموم /  منم من، سنگ تیپاخورده ی رنجور /  منم، دشنام پست آفرینش، نغمه ی ناجور

='strcls'>*Baraheni='lgc'>: “I am the rotten well of ="trms">history ... Throw your matches down so that I can set the whole ="trms">world aflame. I am an underground man. My fire alone shall appear on the face of the earth.”

='strcls'>*="ppl">Shamlu='lgc'>: “It is time that I spit out the entirety of my damnation in an endless uproar / I am the first and last dawn / I am Abel standing on the platform of contempt / I am the honor of the universe, having lashed myself and endured it / Such that the black fire of my agony / shames even Hell for its insignificant holdings.”

="large lg3" stl="font-size:110%">
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> with the maladjusted eyes if the ="nms">iranian ="trms">poet... we are at a far distance from western thought, one that seeks a renovated ="trms">cosmopolitanism as remedy to the injustices of the cityscape in ="trms">modernity

[...]