By Way of Acknowledgments:

Divided Selves and Doubled Genealogies vii

Prelude: After Epic, Writing, Painting, and Film 1

I. Speaking After Zarathustra: Ritual, Epic, and Philosophical Forms of Reason


Prologue 17

1. Yasna: Performative Ritual, Narrative Mnemonic 25

2. Shahnameh: Parable Logic 66

Coda: Illuminations: Philosophical Allegory 131

II. Seeing After Film: Textual and Cinematic Forms of Ethical Reason

3. Awaiting the Revolution: Surrealism Persian Style 151

4. Filmic Judgment and Cultural Critique: The Work of Art, Ethics, and Religion in Postrevolution Iranian Cinema 222

5. War Again: Qandahar, 911--
Figure and Discourse in Iranian Cinematic Writing 259

Coda: Balancing Acts (After 9/11) 355

Epilogue: Beyond “Mobile Armies of Metaphors”: Scheherezade Films the Games 370

Notes 395

Bibliography 433

Index 449

“A deeply appreciated text that is valuable for its commendable effort to understand the Iranian personality.” — Milad Milani, Journal of Religious History

“Fischer has produced a valuable contribution to cinema studies. In addition to presenting the variegated culture of Iran, the author truly captures the character of a nation in its dense richness.” — Z. Pamela Karimi, Art Journal

“Michael M. J. Fischer’s Mute Dreams, Blind Owls, and Dispersed Knowleges: Persian Poesis in the Transnational Circuitry is a much needed and indispensable study of the intertextuality of Iranian film and literature. . . . Mute Dreams is an exceptional work that fills a lacuna in comprehensive studies on Persian poesis.” — Ghazzal Dabiri, Journal of Shi‘a Islamic Studies

"[Michael M. J. Fischer is] a sophisticated postmodern anthropologist. . . . Recommended." — A. Mahdi, Choice

"This huge, comprehensive compendium is useful for anyone interested in Persian culture, especially the evolution of Iranian cinema, which in a relatively short time has become one of the most admired in the world. Readers who can plough through nearly 500 pages . . . will be amply rewarded with the introduction to 'a rich cultural heritage to which world civilization is deeply indebted for its religious imagery, literary stories, and philosophical modes of reflection'." — Times Higher Education Supplement

“A deeply appreciated text that is valuable for its commendable effort to understand the Iranian personality.” —Milad Milani, Journal of Religious History

“Fischer has produced a valuable contribution to cinema studies. In addition to presenting the variegated culture of Iran, the author truly captures the character of a nation in its dense richness.” —Z. Pamela Karimi, Art Journal

“Michael M. J. Fischer’s Mute Dreams, Blind Owls, and Dispersed Knowleges: Persian Poesis in the Transnational Circuitry is a much needed and indispensable study of the intertextuality of Iranian film and literature. . . . Mute Dreams is an exceptional work that fills a lacuna in comprehensive studies on Persian poesis.” —Ghazzal Dabiri, Journal of Shi‘a Islamic Studies

"[Michael M. J. Fischer is] a sophisticated postmodern anthropologist. . . . Recommended." —A. Mahdi, Choice

"This huge, comprehensive compendium is useful for anyone interested in Persian culture, especially the evolution of Iranian cinema, which in a relatively short time has become one of the most admired in the world. Readers who can plough through nearly 500 pages . . . will be amply rewarded with the introduction to 'a rich cultural heritage to which world civilization is deeply indebted for its religious imagery, literary stories, and philosophical modes of reflection'." —Times Higher Education Supplement

“No one reading this book can doubt that when one is face-to-face with Iran, one is face-to-face with one of the great world civilizations of all human history.” — William O. Beeman, author of Double Demons: Cultural Impediments to U.S.-Iranian Understanding

“Mute Dreams, Blind Owls, and Dispersed Knowledges is unique, enjoyable, and insightful, and it brings with it a deep understanding, appreciation, and love of Iranian and Persian cultural contexts, oral epics, religious traditions, ethnography, and films.” — Hamid Naficy, author of An Accented Cinema: Exilic and Diasporic Filmmaking

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