The current political climate of confrontation between Islamistregimes and Western governments has resulted in the proliferation ofessentialist perceptions of Iran and Iranians in the West. Suchperceptions do not reflect the complex evolution of Iranian identitythat occurred in the years following the Constitutional Revolution(1906–11) and the anti-imperialist Islamic Revolution of 1979.Despite the Iranian government’s determined pursuance ofanti-Western policies and strict conformity to religious principles,the film and literature of Iran reflect the clash between a nostalgicpride in Persian tradition and an apparent infatuation with a moreEurocentric modernity. In Familiar and Foreign, Mannani and Thompsonset out to explore the tensions surrounding the ongoing formulation ofIranian identity by bringing together essays on poetry, novels, memoir,and films. These include both canonical and less widely theorizedtexts, as well as works of literature written in English by authorsliving in diaspora.   Challenging neocolonialist stereotypes, these critical excursionsinto Iranian literature and film reveal the limitations of collectiveidentity as it has been configured within and outside of Iran. Throughthe examination of works by, among others, the iconic female poetForugh Farrokhzad, the expatriate author Goli Taraqqi, thecontroversial memoirist Azar Nafisi, and the graphic novelist MarjaneSatrapi, author of Persepolis, this volume engages with the complex andcontested discourses of religion, patriarchy, and politics that are thecontemporary product of Iran’s long and revolutionaryhistory.

Long a topic of intricate political and social debate, Canadian
identity has come to be understood as fragmented, amorphous, and
unstable, a multifaceted and contested space only tenuously linked to
traditional concepts of the nation. As Canadians, we are endlessly
defining ourselves, seeking to locate our sense of self in relation to
some Other. By examining how writers and performers have conceptualized
and negotiated issues of personal identity in their work, the essays
collected in Selves and Subjectivities investigate emerging
representations of self and other in contemporary Canadian arts and
culture. Included are essays on iconic poet and musician Leonard Cohen,
Governor General award-winning playwright Colleen Wagner,
feminist poet and novelist Daphne Marlatt, film director David
Cronenberg, poet and writer Hedi Bouraoui, author and media scholar
Marusya Bociurkiw, puppeteer Ronnie Burkett, and the Aboriginal rap
group War Party.

As critic Diana Brydon has argued, contemporary Canadian writers are
"not transcending nation but resituating it." Drawing
together themes of gender and sexuality, trauma and displacement,
performativity, and linguistic diversity, Selves and
Subjectivities offers an exciting new contribution to the
multivocal dialogue surrounding the Canadian sense of identity."