Aria Fani Book Signing @ Third Place Books Ravenna

Meet Professor and author Aria Fani as we explore his book Reading Across Borders: Afghans, Iranians & Literary Nationalism.

On May 28th, 2024 Aria Fani Assistant Professor of Persian and Iranian Studies at University of Washington will be signing his new book "Reading Across Borders" at the Third Place Books in Ravenna.

In this fascinating account of the forging of national literatures, Aria Fani introduces us to the likes of the Afghan Sarwar Guya Etemadi, who lectured in Pakistan, Iran and Soviet Central Asia, and the Bombay-and Lausanne-educated Mahmud Afshar, who founded periodicals and literary endowments in Iran. -Nile Green Editor of Afghan History through Afghan Eyes.

“In this fascinating account of the forging of national literatures, Aria Fani introduces us to the likes of the Afghan Sarwar Guya E’temadi, who lectured in Pakistan, Iran, and Soviet Central Asia, and the Bombay- and Lausanne-educated Mahmud Afshar, who founded periodicals and literary endowments in Iran.” - Nile Green, Editor of Afghan History Through Afghan Eyes.

The dynamic and interconnected ways Afghans and Iranians invented their modern selves through literature. Contrary to the presumption that literary nationalism in the Global South emerged through contact with Europe alone, Reading across Borders demonstrates how the cultural forms of Iran and Afghanistan as nation-states arose from their shared Persian heritage and cross-cultural exchange in the twentieth century. In this book, Aria Fani charts the individuals, institutions, and conversations that made this exchange possible, detailing the dynamic and interconnected ways Afghans and Iranians invented their modern selves through new ideas about literature. Fani illustrates how voluntary and state-funded associations of readers helped formulate and propagate "literature" as a recognizable notion, adapting and changing Persian concepts to fit this modern idea. Focusing on early twentieth-century periodicals with readers in Afghan and Iranian cities and their diaspora, Fani exposes how nationalism intensified—rather than severed—cultural contact among two Persian-speaking societies amidst the diverging and competing demands of their respective nation-states. This interconnected history was ultimately forgotten, shaping many of the cultural disputes between Iran and Afghanistan today.