Diasporic Literature in Contemporary Iran: Post-Colonial Memoirs

Introduction

As the results of inevitable social and political changes around the world, various genres in literature come into existence. Literature is used as a tool in order to rearrange the social instabilities; therefore, a new genre of literature can fit into these literary discourses. By the way, in the 21st century, literature is not only recognized by poetry and prose, but it is also defined, not limited to works such as films, theater plays, caricatures, and visual art in general. It means that the definition of literature is not restricted to narrations anymore, as the art of literature cannot be limited to the words and sentences. Literature can be described as the formation of words in order to give pleasure. On the contrary, it also operates as a tool of criticizing and affirming cultural values.

The most significant theorists such as Edward Said and Homi Bhabha along with many others have had a great impact on the post-colonialism and Diaspora literature worldwide in order to conceptualize “culture” outside the borders of the motherland. In the field of post-colonialism, Memoirs and Testimonios are the results of this literary genre and subgenre produced worldwide specifically by Middle-Eastern authors and countries which have been in war and tyranny during the last five decades. According to Gugelberger and Kearney, 'literature can naturalize the political ideology and it is often produced by members of the dominant classes in a society who tend to represent and naturalize differences and it is seen from their social and cultural position' (Gugelberger and Kearney 1991). It is necessary to know how Diasporic literature breaks these stereotypes with displaying the reality under the skin of a society from outside the borders in the light of post-colonialism.

This article concentrates on Diasporic literature and theory under the influence of post-colonialism features in the light of recent Iranian cultural production such as movies, literary works and visual arts accompanied with contemporary events of my country, Iran.

Definitions of Literary Concepts

The Meaning of Memoir

Memoir in literature is considered as factual stories of people's lives. Although, they are generally categorized as a nonfictional literary genre; the memoirists occasionally manipulate the events in order to tell a more interesting story. For instance, 'The Feast of the Goat' (2000) by Mario Vargas Llosa which is about Rafael Trijillo's dictatorship in Dominican Republic, is an example of a memoir, displays many fictional features. Memoirs, which are considered as a subgenre of autobiographies, have some differences with them as well. The most significant difference is that memoirs are more concentrated and are centered on a specific point of a life. It covers a touchstone or a significant turning point of a person's life; therefore it is a story from a life. While, autobiographies cover a person's whole life, maybe from birth to death, including the author's family history or childhood. Thus, autobiographies are the stories of a life. As the publication dates of the memoir books suggest, the popularity of memoir has had ups and downs over the centuries. There are many examples from the Middle-ages, the Renaissance or even 21st century. They have been written since the ancient times, as shown by Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic Wars in which he describes the battles that took place during the nine years that he spent fighting the local enemies in that war. So, memoir has a long history in literature which initially referred to the idea in ancient Greek and Rome and this format of narration was used as memos or an incomplete piece of writing which a writer used as a reminder to finish his/her work later on.

The best-selling memoir book in American literature, by Mary Rowlandson, was published in 1832 is called 'The memoir of Mrs. Chloe Spear', an African native, who was enslaved in childhood and died in Boston, January 3, 1815. In the early nineteenth century, the slave narratives had become popular for African Americans.

In the late twentieth century, memoir had been shaped into a successive tool for rights movements, such as the Civil Rights movement, the women’s liberation movement as well as the gay rights movement. Even some memoir books were published by people whose conditions had been expressed as a self-representation, for instance people with Down syndrome, Autism, early Alzheimer’s, etc. (G. Thomas Couser, 2012)

The Most Prominent in Memoir Genre

During the 20th centuries, memoir received a sudden fame as it was used in a more professional way by politicians, military leaders, businesspeople or authors as a way of recording and publishing their own account of their public exploits. Therefore, there are many examples of them which are considered well-known, most importantly because they were written by a well-known person and his/her memoir had particularly a touching role in cultural awareness. Although the best-selling ones are countless, three of them are mentioned as follows:

• 'Walden' by Henry David Thoreau (1854)
• 'Night' by Elie Wiesel (1956)
• 'Dreams From My Father' by Barack Obama (1995)

Henry David Thoreau's memoir book 'Walden' is an account of his two years adventurous self-reliance life in his own-built cabin in woodland near Concord, Massachusetts. His memoir book is a declaration of a personal independence, social experiment and spiritual discovery as well as displaying simplicity of life inspired by transcendentalist approach in those years of American Romanticism. ('Walden' by Henry David Thoreau, 1854)

'Night' by Elie Wiesel which describes the tragic story of people's slaughter from a survivor's eyes, has been considered the most personal and intimate book expressing Holocaust. 'Night' which displays the darkest side of human nature, manifests the enduring power of hope as well that has made of it one of the most touching memoir book of the twentieth century.

Eliezer and his Jew family, originally from a small town Transylvanian, Sighet, failed to flee the country. Therefore, they were all arrested by German army and were sent to concentration camps. In a camp called 'Auschwitz', Eliezer is separated from his mother and sister but stayed with his father. This book is the story of Eliezer's struggle to survive against starvation and abuse, while watching his fragile father. In his book, he expresses how he is battling not only to lose his faith in God's justice but also with the dark side of himself and his efforts of giving himself the best chance of survival. After awhile, they are sent to a new concentration camp called 'Buna' where the British and American armies liberate it few months later. Although Eliezer's father dies, he survives after witnessing all violence, murder and tyranny. ('Night' by Elie Wiesel, 1956)

'Dreams From My Father' which is a memoir book written by Barack Obama is a story of a race and inheritance as how he has attempted to find his identity and belongings in a white American community. Barack Obama's journey for finding his identity as a young black American starts from New York where he receives bad news of his father's death in a car crash in Kenya. This shocking news motivated him to start his discovery journey on his ancestors. Therefore, he sets off for Kansas first where he finds out his maternal family's migration to Hawaii, after that to Indonesia where he passed his childhood and at the end to Kenya where he meets his paternal family. It is in Kenya that he learns about the harsh details of his father's life. ('Dreams From My Father' by Barack Obama, 1995)

Conclusion

Memoir narration has a unique story shape by which not only you can touch the reality, but also you can figure out how a person has experienced a pain, a loss or even a trauma. Memoir can be written according to a person's own language or style. Patricia Hampl believes that 'True memoir is written, like all literature, in an attempt to find not only a self but a world. To write one's life is to live it twice, and the second life is both spiritual and historical, for a memoir reaches deep within the personality as it seeks its narrative form and it also grasps the life of the times as no political analysis can.' (Patricial Hampl, Tell Me True: Memoir, History and Writing a Life, 2008)