Women Without Men: A Novella
Shahrnush Parsipur published her first novel, The Dog and the Long Winter in 1974. While working as a producer for Iranian National Television and Television and Radio, she resigned from her position in protest of the execution of two poets by the Shah's regime. Shortly after, she was arrested and imprisoned. A year after her release she travelled to France where she completed her second book. Following the 1979 revolution, Parsipur returned to Iran. She was soon arrested by the Islamic Republic and although never officially charged with a crime, remained in prison for four years and seven months - an experience she has written about in her Prison Memoirs.
Women Without Men: A Novella is published by Syracuse University Press (£13.16, paperback) and will shortly be reprinted by the Feminist Press.
About the book:
The narrators of the novella are all single women whose seemingly disparate lives come together in a garden in Karaj, which serves as a utopian women's space, free from the dictates of male society. The five protagonists who make their way to the garden have to confront the harsh realities of male society. Other taboo subjects that the book artfully broaches are rape, suicide, murder, love and the possibility of spiritual transcendence.
Criticism:
- Read a review in the Middle East Studies Association Bulletin