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Iran's Postrevolution Generation

July 2013

We continue our tenth anniversary celebration with a return to the topic of our inaugural issue: Iran. Ten years later, writers still struggle with arbitrary censorship, the weight of war, and the limited scope of a closed society; yet the new generation of writers defies these restrictions to present acute portraits of contemporary Iran. The issue includes fiction by Hossein Mortezaeian Abkenar, Payam Feili, Behnaz Alipour Gaskari, Noori Ijadi, Alireza Mahmoudi Iranmehr, Neda Kavoosifar, Paxima Mojavezi, Yasser Norouzi, and Yaghoub Yadali. We thank our guest editors: Shahriar Mandanipour, who contributes a passionate introduction, and Sara Khalili, whose elegant translations bring these authors to us.

The Poet, His Cut-Off Head in His Hand, Went Singing Songs and Ghazals: Literature in Iran
By Shahriar Mandanipour
Iran’s literature has survived, and its survival has a secret.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
Like a Body Turned Inside Out
By Yaghoub Yadali
Borzu Alvandi will always wonder why he wasn’t martyred.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
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Green Sour Orange
By Neda Kavoosifar
With his eyes bulging, Mr. Moadab murmurs, “It’s like silk . . .”
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
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Rahman’s Story
By Hossein Mortezaeian Abkenar
I lost two people, I’ll take two people . . . with this very bayonet.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
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Forty-Eight Steps
By Paxima Mojavezi
He sets off, a few steps ahead of me. I follow him.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
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The Pink Cloud
By Alireza Mahmoudi Iranmehr
I was looking at the sky when suddenly a shower of bullets pierced my chest.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
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from “I Will Grow, I Will Bear Fruit . . . Figs”
By Payam Feili
I leave and return with a large piece of sky.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
Someone is Calling “Leili”
By Noori Ijadi
By the way, how old am I? I can’t remember.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
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Bastard
By Yasser Norouzi
You want me to grant your wish, you must satisfy my need.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
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Escape
By Behnaz Alipour Gaskari
She was now sitting half-naked in front of the door.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
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