The current political climate of confrontation between Islamist
regimes and Western governments has resulted in the proliferation of
essentialist perceptions of Iran and Iranians in the West. Such
perceptions do not reflect the complex evolution of Iranian identity
that occurred in the years following the Constitutional Revolution
(1906–11) and the anti-imperialist Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Despite the Iranian government’s determined pursuance of
anti-Western policies and strict conformity to religious principles,
the film and literature of Iran reflect the clash between a nostalgic
pride in Persian tradition and an apparent infatuation with a more
Eurocentric modernity. In Familiar and Foreign, Mannani and Thompson
set out to explore the tensions surrounding the ongoing formulation of
Iranian identity by bringing together essays on poetry, novels, memoir,
and films. These include both canonical and less widely theorized
texts, as well as works of literature written in English by authors
living in diaspora.

Challenging neocolonialist stereotypes, these critical excursions
into Iranian literature and film reveal the limitations of collective
identity as it has been configured within and outside of Iran. Through
the examination of works by, among others, the iconic female poet
Forugh Farrokhzad, the expatriate author Goli Taraqqi, the
controversial memoirist Azar Nafisi, and the graphic novelist Marjane
Satrapi, author of Persepolis, this volume engages with the complex and
contested discourses of religion, patriarchy, and politics that are the
contemporary product of Iran’s long and revolutionary
history.