Customer Reviews

Kanizu (Bibliotheca Iranica. Persian Fiction in Translation (no 5)

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Kanizu is the first collection of short stories by Moniru Ravanipur, one of the best-known and most highly regarded post-revolutionary Persian fiction writers. In the stories of Kanizu, the reader will find the distinguishing features of the work of Ravanipur that now carry her artistic signature as innovative and highly inventive. The most important of these features is her novel experimental approach to the art of the narrative. Ravanipur belongs to that group of modern writers whose works lean to some extent toward the abstract, not merely for the sake of abstraction, but to convey complexity, the complexity of modern life.
Concern for the lot of women in general and the lives of Iranian women in particular, and delving into the psyche of artists and writers, particularly women writers, are mong the themes of Ravanipur's stories. In the light of the publication date of this collection of short stories (1988), that is, less than ten years after the Islamic Revolution in Iran established strict rules of conduct, especially regarding women and interaction between the sexes, and enforced observance of religious and moral codes, not only regarding public and private behavior but also what could and could not be addressed in written and other forms, many stories in Kanizu would have required tremendous courage on the part of its writer and publisher. This, in addition to her artistic creativity and innovation, is one reason for the immediate popularity of Ravanipur, a major figure in post-revolutionary Persian literature.