Description
Parvīn Iᶜtiṣāmī has remained a luminous star in the firmament of Persian poetryas she praised herself in her epitaph: ‘Parvīn, resting in black dust/ is the star in
the firmament of literature’. The combination of her prowess in exploiting the
3
classical style of Persian poetry and her gender brought her both admiration and
abomination. When Parvīn entered the masculinist literary tradition of Persian
poetry with the publication of her poems, she was praised, but as a rarity.
Because of being a female poet, she was patronised, ostracised, disbelieved and
accused of literary fraud. Although Parvīn wrote a short poem and asserted that
she was ‘not a man’, her femininity remained a controversial issue. Parvīn and
her poetry continued to be perceived as ‘miraculous’ in the masculinist MuslimIranian culture. The prominent literary critic, Shafīᶜī-Kadkanī (1939-present)
asserts that no contemporary or classical poet after Ḥāfiẓ (d. 1390) has achieved
Parvīn’s popularity, which he characterises as ‘Parvīn’s miracle’. In his own
words, Shafīᶜī-Kadkanī is one among the hundreds of thousands of Parvīn’s
‘enchanted’ readers. Apparently, Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the
Islamic Republic of Iran (r. 1989-present), is also enchanted by the mystery of
Parvīn’s poetic talent. In this presentation, I analyse Khamenei’s use of Parvīn’s
poetry. With this analysis, I demonstrate how the transgressive aspects of
Parvīn’s poetry, which provoked harsh criticism in the masculinist IranianMuslim culture, are the reason for Khamenei’s fascination with her work, and
her identity as an Iranian-Muslim female poet.
| Period | 8 Nov 2022 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Conference ‘Islam, Gender and Society in Contemporary Iran’ |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | UtrechtShow on map |