Iranian Rappers and Persian Porn: A Hitchhiker’s Adventures in the New Iran
by Jamie Maslin
Drinking Arak off the Ayatollah’s Beard
by Jeff Jubbar
Honeymoon in Tehran: Two Years of Love and Danger in Iran
by Azadeh Moaveni
The Ayatollah Begs to Differ:The Paradox of Moder Iran
Hooman Majd
Not sure why publishers as diverse as boutiques like De Capo and Skyline and establishment like Doubleday and Random House lose all reason when it comes to putting a title on a book about Iran. The excellent content of each of these books is trivialized and/or betrayed by its title.
Each book takes a different approach to contemporary Iran. If you read all four, you will marvel at how much you didn’t know and how much there is to know. It may even scare you, if you aren't already, that our policy makers may not know half of what you will learn.
Iranian Rappers and Persian Porn: A Hitchhiker's Adventures in the New Iran
This book gets my award for the most misleading title. A word count on rap and porn would immediately debunk it. Hitchhiking in Iran, in and of itself, should sell the book to anyone disposed to buy a hip travel book on Iran.
Jamie Maslin is cool – and he has adventures far beyond anything Jack Kerouac could ever dream of. All travelers in Iran report incredible hospitality, and Maslin is no exception. People he hardly knows invite him to stay in their homes. His hosts are surprised to learn of their country’s image outside its borders. Maslin meets a surprising number of other young tourists. They go to parties where the youth of Iran drink, dress and flirt much like their western counterparts.
Drinking Arak off the Ayatollah’s Beard
Jubbar is certainly a niche traveler. A citizen of Great Britain, he goes to Tehran to study Farsi and becomes interested in the "Shahmenah", a 60,000 verse work by Ferdowsi that sounds like it’s two parts Homer and one part Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Every Persian speaker knows the legends of Rostam just as we know Lancelot. One memorable legend is that of a ruler with snakes growing out of his shoulders that eat the flesh of young as he walks down the street.
Jubbar travels in Iran and in the Persian influenced areas of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan where he finds other Ferdowsi aficionados. There are thespians who perform the episodes, academics who study the work as literature or history, there are Shahnnemah-Khwan who recite the entire work. Poetry lovers take Jubbar into their simple homes and share with him verses and trips to Shahmenah related places. There is a climax. Jubbar disguises himself to travel through Taliban controlled areas of Afghanistan to taunt the (real life) Sultan (at his gravesite) who insulted his beloved poet.
There are political uses of the "Shahmenah". The last Shah loved the poem, quoted from it and used its signs and symbols to re-enforce his legitimacy as a Persian monarch. In the Islamic Revolution there was an attempt to pull down Ferdowsi’s sculpture, but the poet and his work cannot be suppressed. In Dari speaking areas of Afghanistan, Ferdowsi is loved, in Pashto speaking parts of Afghanistan he is either minimized or forgotten.
Honeymoon in Tehran: Two Years of Love and Danger in Iran
Azadeh Moaveni is a first generation American of Iranian descent. As a bilingual, she was an ideal fit for her job as a foreign correspondent. While working in Tehran, she fell in love, which seems to be against the country's written and unwritten.
Moaveni’s role as a reporter earned her a “tail” and a series of intimidating meetings and phone calls. She didn’t need the hassle of falling in love, becoming pregnant and getting married. This wedding, which had to take place quickly, had no end of logistics. The first was getting a male relative’s permission. The actual event required a series of bribes so that men and women could sit together, so that there could be music, and so that alcohol could be served.
Moaveni’s fiancé had a textile business and through this you get a glimpse of doing business in Iran's revolutionary system. His business, her career and the frustration of the wedding plans show how intrusive the government is into every area of personal and professional life.
The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran
Majd, an Iranian-American who speaks Farsi with no accent and is connected to some major players in Iranian politics, explores the society of Iran. He smokes opium with the rich and poor and tells us about it. He visits government offices and gives clues as to what is going on.
Outsiders do not see the pride Iranians have in both their modern and ancient culture. Despite their differences with their government (which he clearly explains), they are proud to live in a country that matters. Majd describes the concepts of laat (the tough cat) and ta'arouf (self deprecation) and shows how they play out in the personal and political realms. He explains why Ahmedinijan dresses as he does (it’s a populist touch – he’s Iran’s version of Joe Six Pack).
Iranians may be cynical about their Islamic government, but not about Islam. Majd explains what it means to be a Shi’ite in Iran through his conversations with Iranians and in descriptions of customs. Most striking for me was the Roseh, its universal appeal and how Ali’s martyrdom (and martyrdom in general) is woven into the culture and molds a distinctive view of the world.
The one disappointment here is the lack of women’s voices. To get a balanced look, read this in conjunction with “Honeymoon in Tehran”. I haven’t read Moaveni’s “Lipstick Jihad” (again, the title), but I would imagine it would provide similar insight into the female perspective.
All four of these books are conversationally written. Most of the pages turn themselves. Each has a different emphasis. Maslin’s is a general travelogue; Jubbar’s an introduction to an important Persian literary work where you meet a wide variety of people in unusual settings; Moaveni’s shows the intrusion of the state into one’s professional and personal life; and Majd’s explains the people and how they are faring in the Islamic Republic.