Losing Our Minds, Coming to Our Senses: Sensory readings of Persian literature (A Hafezian Banquet)

Stanford Iranian Studies Program

May 27, 2021 Literary research premised on sensory studies challenges above all the monopolization of modern Persian literary criticism by socio-political discourses, which generally rely on content-based approaches constructing "committed readings" of literary production. "Committed readings" circumscribe the significance of the literary by allowing the text to only be a site of resistance and calls to action, thus foreclosing opportunities for alternative readings. Sensory studies challenge the limits of such approaches, and this confrontation takes place in the fields of aesthetics-stylistics and literary readings. Mehdi Khorrami, Emeritus Professor, New York University, is the author of "Literary Subterfuge and Contemporary Persian Fiction: Who Writes Iran" (2014), and "Modern Reflections of Classical Traditions in Persian Fiction" (2003), and a number of essays and book chapters on the rhetorical and aesthetic dynamics of Persian modernist writing and contemporary Persian prison literature. He has also co-edited and co-translated a number of books, including: "Fayz Muhammad Katib Hazrah’s Afghan Genealogy and Memoir of the Revolution" (2019), "Moments of Silence: Authenticity in the Cultural Expressions of the Iran-Iraq War, 1980–1988" (2016), "Vol. 4 of The History of Afghanistan: Fayz Muhammad Kātib’s Sirāj al-tawārıkh" (2016), "A Persian Mosaic: Essays: Essays on Persian Language, Literature and Film in Honor of M. R. Ghanoonparvar" (2015), "Vol. 3 of The History of Afghanistan: Fayz Muhammad Kātib’s Sirāj al-tawārıkh" (2013), "Sohrab’s Wars: Counter-Discourses of Contemporary Persian Fiction: A Collection of Short Stories and a Film Script" (2008), "Critical Encounters: Essays on Persian Literature and Culture in Honor of Peter J. Chelkowski" (2007), "Another Sea, Another Shore: Persian Stories of Migration" (2004), "A Feast in the Mirror: Stories by Contemporary Iranian Women" (2000), "A Feast in the Mirror: Stories by Contemporary Iranian Women" (in Persian, 2002), "A World Between: Poems and Short Stories by Iranian-Americans" (1999). Prof. Khorrami’s lecture was originally accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation and the video is forthcoming. The images used are accessible at the following links: "Allegory of Sight and Smell" (1618) by Jan Brueghel the Elder, Hendrick van Balen the Elder, and Gerard Seghers, courtesy Museo del Prado, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jan_Brueghel_(I),_Hendrick_van_Balen_(I)_and_Gerard_Seghers_-_Allegory_of_Sight_and_Smell.jpg "The Senses of Hearing, Touch and Taste" (1618) by Jan Brueghel the Elder, courtesy Museo del Prado, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:File-Bruegel_d._Ä.,_Jan_-The_Senses_of_Hearing,_Touch_and_Taste_-_1618.jpg