Bio: Elham Gheytanchi

Elham Gheytanchi teaches sociology in Santa Monica College (CA, USA). She earned her BA (1995) and MA (1998) in sociology from UCLA. She completed Ph.D courses in sociology program at UCLA in 2001. Her MA thesis entitled "Civil Society in Iran: Politics of Motherhood and Public Sphere" was published in International Sociology Journal, Volume 16, No. 4, December 2001: 557-577. Her field of research has been women in post-revolutionary Iran. Her other publications are, "Frauen in der Islamischen Öffentlichkeit in Iran," in Islam in Sicht: Der Auftritt von Muslimen im öffentlichen Raum, edited by Nilofer Gole and Ludwig Amman, Germany, Berlin, Bielefeld 2004: 206-226 and "Chronology of Events Regarding Women in Iran since the Revolution of 1979" (appendix to Nikki Keddie's article) in Social Research Journal, Volume 67, No. 2, Summer 2000. In addition to sociological research, Gheytanchi has written literary reviews and criticism on contemporary Iranian literature in Persian Book Review Journal (published in Los Angeles, USA), Karnameh (Literary magazine in Tehran, Iran) and Iranian.com (online magazine). Born and raised in Tehran, Iran, Gheytanchi has also been a consultant to various broadcasting companies and radio programs in US and Europe. She is a proud holder of 2004 Los Angeles Marathon Medal.

Abstract

I Turn off the Lights: The Private Sphere in Contemporary Iranian Women's Novels

Zoya Pirzad's "I Turn off the Lights" (2001) is a novel about the mundane life of an Armenian Iranian woman- Claris- during 1960s in the then multicultural city of Abadan. In this novel, Claris tells her inner struggles through her ambivalent attitude towards the role of a housewife whose husband is a left-wing activist. Claris lets us into her mind and her conflicting emotions through her continuous dual conversations with herself. At the center of Claris' dualities is the event of her love to their newly arrived neighbor's son, an aristocrat Armenian man who has tumultuous relationship with his mother. After careful deliberations about her role as a mother, her religious and social responsibilities with her husband, Claris consciously decides to arrange a private meeting with Emile, her beloved, only to find out that he has fallen in love with another woman. While Claris is constantly in dialogue with her inner voice while deeply engaged in her routine activities, she does not demonize her husband or her beloved, nor does she judge herself in a moral or religious manner. The text defies the readers' expectations on two levels; one, Claris' emotions and inner struggles are not different due to her Armenian identity, second, Claris' relation to men is not contemptuous. Although Claris acknowledges her Armenian identity in public, she chooses her rational response to religious doctrines towards extramarital affairs in the private sphere, an undoubtedly secular one. The novel brings out the anxieties of a modern life as lived by the ³other² whose cosmopolitan life in Abadan- the quintessential modern city in Iran's 1960s-reflects the ambivalence over conflation of religion, nationality, politics and sexuality.