Amir Moosavi 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 also highlights how these diverse literary works grapple with the war's legacy, from its human and environmental costs to its enduring presence in collective memory.
Amir Moosavi 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 also highlights how these diverse literary works grapple with the war's legacy, from its human and environmental costs to its enduring presence in collective memory.
0:00 The Enduring Legacy of the Iran-Iraq War
1:03 Introducing Amir Moosavi's Book
3:39 A Historical Primer on the Iran-Iraq War
7:16 Shifting Narratives: Qadisiyyat Saddam and Operation Karbala
11:49 Bridging Arabic and Persian Literary Worlds
15:51 Understanding State Literature and Propaganda
20:11 Examples of State Literature and Narrative Shifts
29:36 Post-War Writers: Challenging Official Narratives
35:26 Warfront Depictions and the Quest for Truth
38:31 Artistic Communities and Collective Memory
40:41 The Meaning Behind "Dust That Never Settles"
43:18 Ecological Damage in War Literature
48:22 Misconceptions and Nuances in War Literature
50:39 Diaspora Authors and Freedom of Expression
Amir Moosavi is an assistant Professor in the Department of English at Rutgers University- Newark. He started teaching at Rutgers-Newark in the fall of 2018, following a year-long EUME postdoc funded by the Volkswagenstiftung and Mellon Foundation in Berlin (2016-17) and a visiting assistant professorship in modern Iranian studies at Brown University (2017-18). His research and teaching interests cover modern Arabic and Persian literatures and the cultural history of the Middle East, with an emphasis on Iran, Iraq, and the Levant. At RU-N, he teaches courses on Arabic and Persian fiction and film, world literature, translation studies, and war culture. He is particularly interested in how cultural production deals with violent pasts, wars, notions of transitional justice, representations of urban space, and the climate crisis. He has written a book manuscript titled "Dust That Never Settles: Literary Afterlives of the Iran-Iraq War."
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