Her mother's great secret was the story of her first husband, which involved learning the meaning of the word "sadism," and the daughter from that marriage in 1950-51. When her father died, as she was helping her mother move, she found a photograph that she eventually learned was her mother as a 13 year old bride. She teaches English and creative writing at W & L. (Feb.I heard Jasmin Darznik, an Iranian who arrived in the US at age 3, speak at the Charlottesville Festival of the Book this year as part of a panel on memoirs. Darznik’s marvelous homage to Forugh captures the frustration and determination she must have felt to overcome the strictures of her environment, beautifully recreating her difficult path to fame. As Forugh finds her stride, so does Darznik’s telling the direct but descriptive voice soars as its subject makes a life for herself. Forugh’s crucibles are not so dissimilar from those of her country, balancing a rich history and faith with a desire to secure a place in modern spheres of influence. Excerpts of her verses, translated by Darznik, light the path from Forugh’s tragic first love to the birth of her son, a passionate affair, her first publication, and her determination to remain independent in a world so focused on control.
Poetry is the thread that weaves through Forugh’s journey: the familial and romantic relationships that uplift and crush her the darkest hours of isolation where she is made to forget her own work the possibilities and promise, always just out of her reach.
In this imagining-told with the vulnerability and confidence of a memoir-Forugh Farrokhzad grows up in a Tehran where women and girls see little of the world beyond their own garden walls, but the glimpses are formative. In this sumptuous debut novel, Darznik ( The Good Daughter, a memoir) retells the fleeting life of a real-life Iranian feminist, poet, and director.
0 kommentar(er)
