 | Modern American Literature and Contemporary Iranian Cinema: Identity, Appropriation, and Recontextualization Subjects: Area Studies; Humanities; Language & Literature; Middle East Studies; Media & Film Studies; Literature; Iranian Studies; Middle East Film and Media; Film Studies; Literary/ Critical Theory; Literature by Geographic Area; As an endeavour to contribute to the burgeoning field of comparative literature, this monograph addresses the dynamic yet understudied "intertextual dialogism" between modern American literature and contemporary Iranian Cinema, pinpointing how the latter appropriates and recontextualizes instances of the latter to construct and inculcate vestiges of national/gender identity on the silver screen. Drawing on Louis Montrose's catchphrase that Cultural Materialism foregrounds "the textuality of history, [and] the historicity of texts", this book contends that literary "texts" are synchronic artifacts prone to myriad intertextual and extra-textual readings and understandings, each historically conditioned. The recontextualization of Herzog , Franny and Zooey , The Glass Menagerie , A Streetcar Named Desire , and Death of a Salesman into contemporary Iran provides an intertextual avenue to delineate the textuality of history and the historicity of texts Morteza Yazdanjoo is a postdoctoral researcher in English literature and Cultural Studies at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (FUM) and university lecturer. He teaches a variety of courses on English literature and Cultural Studies and is interested in interdisciplinary studies with a focus on how cinematic appropriations of world literature by Iranian cinema contribute to reflect sociocultural outlooks, values, and challenges in contemporary Iran. |
