The Iraq-Iran War: Literary Works From Both Sides of the Conflict
In our interview with Amir Moosavi, assistant Professor in the Department of English at Rutgers University- Newark, he discusses the profound impact of the Iran-Iraq War – the longest two-state war of the 20th century – on the literature of both nations. Through his book "Dust That Never Settles: Literary Afterlives of the Iran-Iraq War," he explores in this conversation the official state-sanctioned narratives that emerged during and after the war, comparing them with the more nuanced, critical, and often experimental literary responses from writers in Iraq and Iran, including those in the diaspora. The conversation highlights the following literary works and authors that grapple with the war's legacy, from its human and environmental costs to its enduring presence in collective memory.
Books to Read:
Dust That Never Settles.
Literary Afterlives of the Iran-Iraq War.
by Amir Moosavi
The book considers how Iraqi and Iranian writers have wrestled with representing the Iran-Iraq War and its legacy, from wartime to the present.
Basrayatha: The Story of a City by Muhammad Khudayyir
A literary tribute by author Muhammad Khudayyir to the city of his birth, Basra, on the Shatt al-Arab waterway in southern Iraq.
Via Abe Books
Sabilad - The Old Woman and the River
by Fahad Ismaël
This book vividly depicts the environmental aftermath of the Iran-Iraq War, contrasting widespread devastation with a mysterious green oasis sustained by a lone old woman.
Tehran, The City Without a Sky
by Amir Hassan Cheheltan
A story about the life of a handsome, brave and brutal man who ran away from home to Tehran & sold his body. On the eve of the Islamic Revolution, he joins a gang that runs brothels and takes action against undesirable political gatherings.
Via Sujet Verlag
Seasons of Purgatory by Shahriar Mandanipour
A fantastical and visceral merge in tales of tender desire and collective violence, the boredom and brutality of war, and the clash of modern urban life and rural traditions. It renders the individual consciousness from a variety of perspectives: young & old, man & woman, conscript and prisoner.
Via Livebrary
No Windmills in Basra by Diaa Jubaili
A bold, imaginative collection of short stories set in Southern Iraq
Via Deep Vellum
Closing His Eyes by Luay Hamza Abbas
A collection of short stories translated into English by Yasmeen Hanoosh. Abbas's writing offers a poignant glimpse into the lives of ordinary Iraqis amidst the backdrop of war and societal upheaval.
Via Abe Books