Abstract
Reza Baraheni was born in Tabriz, Iran, in 1935. After studying there and in Turkey, he obtained a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Istanbul, and in 1963 was appointed Professor of English at Teheran University. He has also taught at the University of Texas in Austin, the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and Indiana University in Bloomington, read his poetry at various American universities and published in leading American quarterlies. He is the author of three novels and two dozen short stories, most of which have not been published in Iran as they were suppressed by the censor.
The text that follows will appear in a revised form as an introduction to his Prison Poems, which are being published in book form by the Indiana University Press in Bloomington. The poems and the introductory article were written on the basis of his experience of three months ‘imprisonment in Teheran.’ The Doves' he actually wrote while in prison, scratching the words into the wall as he had no paper or writing utensils.
‘I was in prison, and that in solitary confinement, for 102 days at the end of 1973,’ writes the author. ‘I was released as a result of international pressure exerted on the Iranian government on my behalf in the United States. My release came on 22 December 1973. The prison was called the “Joint Committee for the Campaign against Terrorism in Iran”. But I met no terrorists in this prison. I discovered that the name was just a disguise to conceal the fact that most of the prisoners were students, professors and government employees. The reason for my arrest and subsequent physical and psychological torture was the publication of my book, Masculine History, which had become an underground success immediately after its appearance in 1972, and of an article called “The Culture of the Oppressor and the Culture of the Oppressed”, in which I had demanded cultural autonomy for Iran's ethnic minorities. After my release 1 left Iran for the United States.’