Customer Reviews

Crowning Anguish

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was largely disappointed with this book - I expected an autobiographical glimpse into the life of a pioneering feminist Iranian princess and her family. What I got was a "dear diary"-style mess penned by a selfish and astonishingly conceited young woman. Princess Taj al-Saltana's memoir of her life in her father's harem is loaded with self-aggrandizing statements and little else. Granted, the princess' spoiled brat mentality and overblown self image are undoubtedly products of her coddled earlier life as the daughter of the Shah, however, the constant self promotion makes for terribly boring reading. Taj rehashes the same themes and stories time and again, all while constantly paying homage to her own alleged beauty and intellect. I am sorry to say that the princess' method of relating her story was tiresome, and I couldn't wait for it to end. I found myself rolling my eyes each time I came across a ludicrous reference to her great beauty or amazing mental capacity -- her photographs and her actions do not quite measure up to her excessive claims. I was also disappointed by the lack of information regarding harem life. For example, while she writes of the rituals involved with marriage, her disjointed writing style and intense self-focus give the reader only a fleeting idea of what actually happened during her marriage ceremony. The princess' writing is unfocused and often skips back and forth in time, making her story difficult to follow. The reader is provided with very little useful information about royal harem life. The princess' interest in civil rights for Iranian women is overshadowed by her greater interest in her own freedom to do as she pleases.

The book was edited by Abbas Amanat, who provides a dry and lengthy prologue (of just over 100 pages) which sets the stage for the princess' memoir. I found it puzzling at first that the prologue was so long, however, I soon recognized the need for it. The princess provides very little historical orientation in her memoir, and it is necessary for the editor to fill his readers in with pertinent information regarding the political and social atmosphere in turn-of-the-century Iran. While I agree that the intended topic of "Crowning Anguish" is fascinating, those interested in learning about harem life would be better off skipping this book.

A truly tragic account of the life of a Persian Princess in the nineteenth century, this book will touch nerves even today. But aside from recounting a life, Taj Al-Saltana's memoir makes three significant contributions to the history of Persia. First and foremost, it is an original and quite possibly the first modern-day feminist book by a Persian woman on the condition of women in Taj's era. Second, her memoir is immensely important to understanding life in the Qajar Dynasty's royal harem. Finally, this book allows the most private look into King Nassir Al-Din's life. Nassir Al-Din ruled Persia for nearly one half of the nineteenth century.

This book comes with a detailed introduction from its editor Professor A. Amanat of Yale University. The intro is in-depth, reader friendly, and helps set the stage for understanding Taj's era and life in Persia. I would highly recommend the Book "Pivot of the Universe" also by Amanat, on the life of Taj Al-Saltana's father, King Nassir Al-Din Qajar.

Taj Al-Sultana was born in a harem, in Iran, in 1884. Her father was Naser Al-Din Shah Qajar, the ruler, who would be assassinated in 1896. The new ruler, Mozaffar al-din Shah, as was so often the custom, "turfed out" the members of the old harem, which included Taj's mother. The new ruler did provide a reasonable pension. Taj was married at 13, to a child like herself, also 13, who on the wedding night seemed to be far more interested in his childhood games. Taj had some children, and eventually died impoverished, in Tehran, in 1936. Along the way, she made an effort to educate herself, and to assert herself in this very male dominated society. The most unusual part of her life is that she wrote about it; and her memoir, published in 1914, provided some unique insights into her initial upbringing in the harem, and her struggles, as well as those of the country, to shake off a feudal past, and move into the modern era.

I have numerous reservations about Al-Saltana's memoirs. Overall, this book is 300 pages, but that includes an introduction by Abbas Amanat of almost 100 pages. Amanat's style, and even "spin," is dramatically more sophisticated than the memoirs themselves. There seemed to be an overriding effort to "market" the memoirs by projecting a modern feminist agenda onto Al-Saltana's writings that is simply not there. Since there are not a lot of other memoirs from an Iranian harem to compare against, the effort is at least plausible.

Amanat at least addresses the problem in passing, by saying: "Certainly, like Madame Bovary, Taj's love of luxury and her weakness for expensive clothes brought her near to bankruptcy, and likewise into trouble with a silk merchant. The glamour of Parisian fashion, expensive jewelry, horses, and carriages, and other accessories of an extravagant lifestyle were as irresistible to Taj as they were to many of the Europeanized nobility of her time." So, the memoirs themselves reflect that state of mind, and it is as though Madame Bovary wrote them, and not Flaubert. I found them exceedingly shallow, and without real insight. As one example, she seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that the dominant concern of the political leadership of Persia was to maintain some sort of modest independence from the encroachments of the Russian and British empires.

The prose will not hold your attention, but the photographs and drawings of the era very well may; they are indeed unique. On page 29 there is a photo of Naser al-Din with his harem. It would shatter the Western view derived from the languid poses in so many "Orientalist" paintings. The seven women appear almost as siblings, with the heavy eyebrows that touch over the nose, the short skirts (to the knees) and the white socks! Only years of abstinence could serve as a catalyst for a decent fantasy with such material. On the other hand, there is the steady, solemn gaze of the shackled assassin of Naser al-Din, who also bore the honorific "blessed," Mirza Reza Kermani. And there is a grainy photo of the self-confident author, in European attire, which certainly is far more appealing than the colored photo of her obese self on a bike, on the back cover.

The memoir rates 1.5 stars, but the photos and drawings pull the book up to a 3-star overall.

This book was a non-fiction story of daughter of King of Kings Naser Din. She expressed her difficult circumstances of her life as a lady living in a patriarchy society. Once, she learned secular education she moved away from superstitution. She no longer believed that lighting was god's anger but because of scientific reason. In 1936, she passed away as a destituted person.

A good primary source, of which few exist. I wanted to point out to one of the reviewers that the language of Iran (Persia) is Persian and NOT Arabic. The memoirs were written in Taj's native Persian (not Arabic) and then translated into English.

A truly tragic account of the life of a Persian princess in the nineteenth century, this book will touch nerves even today. But aside from recounting a life, Taj Al-Saltana's memoir makes three significant contributions to the history of Persia. First and foremost, it is an original and quite possibly the first modern work of feminism written on the condition of women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Persia. Secondly, her memoir is immensely important for understanding life in the Qajar royal Harem. And third, it is perhaps the most private look into Nassir Al-Din Shah's personal life.

This work is accompanied with a 105 page introduction by Professor Amanat (Editor), setting the stage for the reader to understand Taj's era. I would also recommend Mr. Amanat's book, The Pivot of the Universe, which is on the life of Taj's father, Nassir Al-Din Shah.

I was required to read this book for a class on the history of the modern Middle East. I thought this would be one of the more interesting textbooks that I have to read this semester. I was wrong; this thing is painful.
I've been informed by a friend of mine from the area that it probably loses something in the transition from Arabic to English, but to me the whole thing is overwritten, self centered and features the "heroine" blaming her problems largely on society. Of course she does go into detail about that society, providing the historical value, but still. In places it reads like a manuscript rejected from Harlequin Romance Novels.
If you really want a picture of life in the Middle East. read "Struggle and Survival in the Modern Middle East" by Edmund Burke. Gives a better pictue.