Majid Naficy: Difference between revisions

Majid Naficy
Majid Naficy
	Majid Naficy and Hooshang Golshiri in Los Angeles, April 1992
Born	22 February 1952 (age 72); Isfahan, Iran
Main interests	Poetry, Iranian-American Culture, Human Rights
Notable ideas	Poetry as a Structure, Islamic Clericalism and State Capitalism, Marx not as a Führer, Critique of Death-Oriented Male-Dominated Culture in Iran, Acceptance of Los Angeles as his own City, Persian Poetry in Los Angeles

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Majid Naficy (Template:Lang-fa) (born February 22, 1952), also spelled "Majid Nafisi" and "Madjid Nafissi," is an Iranian-American poet. He was the youngest member of the literary circle Jong-e Isfahan and considered the Arthur Rimbaud of Persian poetry in late 1960s in Iran. He was a member of the Confederation of Iranian Students in Los Angeles in 1971, and was a member of the independent Marxist Peykar Organization after the Iranian Revolution until 1982.^[1]

Majid Naficy was the writer of two crucial articles in Weekly Peykar against Hostaging of the personnel of the American Embassy in Tehran; The Zigzags of the Counter-Revolution (that is, Khomeini’s regime) and Their One-Sided Reflections Within the Ranks of the Revolution (Weekly Peykar, Appendix to No. 34, December 16, 1979) ^[2] and Iran-Iraq War Is Not in the Interests of the Massess of Two Countries against Iran-Iraq war (Weekly Peykar, Appendix to No. 73, September 23, 1980).^[3]

In April 1983, a year and a half after the execution of his wife Ezzat Tabaian in Evin Prison, he fled Iran to Turkey on horseback. Naficy finally moved to Los Angeles, California in May 1984, co-founding a group of Los Angeles-based exile Iranian poets and writers called Saturday Notebooks, or simply Saturday Sessions. He continues to write and publish poetry and nonfiction both in Persian and English and participates in human rights activities both in Iran and America.

Personal life

Naficy was born in Isfahan, Iran on February 22, 1952, the son of Batul Okhovap and Aboutorab Naficy.

In 1970 Naficy moved to Los Angeles to study Linguistics at UCLA and there he became a revolutionary Marxist. In 1972 he returned to Iran to participate in the social movement against the Shah. After the 1979 revolution, the new theocratic regime began to suppress the opposition, and more than ten relatives, including his first wife Ezzat Tabaian^[4], his brother Sa'id, his sister-in-law Fahimeh, and his brother-in-law Hossein Okhovat-Moqadan were executed.^[5]

He fled Iran in 1983 and spent a year and a half in Turkey and France. Majid Naficy then settled in Los Angeles where his son, Azad, was born on April 28, 1988. Azad is a successful singer, songwriter, and music producer.^[6]

Majid Naficy took his first step toward Kantian maturity when in spring 1981 he dared to call for an "open polemic" regarding the change of tactics in the Editorial 110 within the centralized orthodox-Marxist Peykar Organization back in Iran. His second step to come out of his self-imposed immaturity happened in the summer 1985 when he decided to re-study Marx’s major works chronologically and systematically and present them as lectures for other Iranian Marxists in exile in a community room at University of Southern California. The result of this effort was nine lectures from June 1985 to November 1986 on nine books of Marx collectively called “Marx not as a Führer”.

One night in September 1987 Majid Naficy dreamt of his lost brother Sa’id in Los Angeles. In his dream, Majid was hastily typing the thoughts that he wanted to share with his brother. For the last few years before the Revolution, due to their political differences, the two brothers did not talk to each other. Majid wanted to criticize the death-oriented thoughts and stoic lives of many of Iranian leftists who struggled against the Shah's regime in the seventies. He wanted to show that they had many things in common with the people who saw Khomeini as their savior. They struggled for a communal joy, but they considered joy a sin for themselves. They longed for freedom, but they idolized their own school of thought and refused to have any conversation with others. They praised women, but their eyes could not bear the glare of female faces. They mainly wanted to take political power, and left everything else to the future. This was the origin of the writing of “In Search of Joy: A Critique of Death-Oriented & Male-Dominated Culture in Iran”. This two-hundred-fifty-page book consists of an introduction on death worship before the Revolution, an appendix on the profile of Women in the poetry of the contemporary poet Ahmad Shamlou and nine chapters on classical poets Baba Taher, Faez, Khayyam, Attar, Rumi, Sa’di, Hafez and a folk tale and ends with Khomeini and sexuality. Although Naficy follows a trend of thought, that is appreciation of life and womanhood, yet he does not adhere to any particular school of thought in this book. His criticism does not attempt to demonize Rumi and Hafez or burn their works, but it is an invitation to read them more seriously. He ends his foreword to the book as follows: “We are raised to a great extent under the spiritual influence of our classics. Therefore, if we want to go further, we should not close the path of analysis or criticism of our classical works to ourselves.”

In 1996, Naficy received his PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from the University of California at Los Angeles. Naficy ran in Los Angeles marathon twelve years consecutively. He is visually impaired due to retinal degeneration. Naficy lost most of his vision after climbing Mt. Whitney on July 22, 2001.

Poetry

In 1965, at age thirteen, Naficy published two poems in Jong magazine in Isfahan.^[7]Soon his poetry appeared in prestigious Arash magazine, next to Forough Farrokhzad’s work, as well as Jozveh-ye She’r, the organ of New Wave Poetry next to poems of Ahmadreza Ahmadi and Bijan Elahi. His first collection of poems In the Tiger’s Skin was published in 1969. One year later his book of literary criticism, Poetry as a Structure appeared. In 1971 his children’s book The Secret of Words won a national award in Iran.

In 1970s he became a revolutionary Marxist and stopped writing poetry because he wanted to change the world not by words but through actions. However after the execution of his wife Ezzat Tabaian in Evin Prison on January 7, 1982 poetry returned to him. Naficy wrote nine poems in one stroke collectively called “Ezzat Was Executed.” He wanted to make her alive again, and there was nothing left for him but the creative power of poetry.

One and half years later he fled Iran and eventually took refuge in Los Angeles. On December 22, 1985 Majid Naficy was surprised by another explosion of poetry which lasted for four months. Poetry was pouring out of him day and night. He gathered 111 of them in his second collection of poems called, "After the Silence." Yes, poetry untied his tongue and gave him courage to speak for those who became silenced by firing squads.

Except for fewer than ten, all of the poems in this collection were written about the Iranian situation in the past and present. It seems that after this collection of poems, the poet gradually comes to terms with his new situation and sees himself as a person living in America. He seeks to cherish both his cultural heritage and his new identity. In his third collection of poems called Sorrow of the Border published in 1989, the proportion of poems reflecting the new situation has increased drastically. In a very long poem dedicated to his newborn son, Azad, he sees his son as his own new roots growing in the second homeland.

In the next collection, published in 1991, called Poems of Venice, the reader finds different aspects of life at Venice Beach, where Majid lived for seven years. A turning-point in this long journey from the realm of self-denial to acceptance and adjustment is when he wrote a long poem on January 12, 1994 called "Ah, Los Angeles" . It starts with these lines:

Ah, Los Angeles!
I accept you as my own city,
And after ten years
I am at peace with you.

The City of Venice cherished his effort and engraved a stanza of this poem “Ah Los Angeles” in the public space on the intersection of Boardwalk and Brooks Ave. in 2000. ^[8] Also the city of Studio City has engraved the first stanza of his poem “Secret of the River” on a bench in Los Angeles Riverfront Park.

Naficy has tried to introduce the poetry of Iranian poets in Los Angeles both to English and Iranian readers. On March 20, 1998, he hosted a poetry reading in celebration of Persian New Year in Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in Venice Beach in which five poets, Nader Naderpour, Partow Nuriala, Mansour Khaksar, Abbas Saffari and himself read their poems both in Persian and English. He also on February 21, 2012 had a talk at Stanford University in English entitled “Persian Poetry in Los Angeles: Nostalgia VS Adaptation”.^[9]^[10] Finally, Naficy was the guest editor of Ava-ye Tabeed (Voice of Exile), an online Persian journal (No. 11, November 2019) dedicated to the poetry of thirty Iranian poets living in Los Angeles.

Tributes

Majid Naficy is one of the six poets featured in the film Poetry of Resilience directed by the Oscar-nominated documentary film-maker Katja Esson.^[11]

He was the first writer in residence in Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica from 2009 to 2010.^[12]

A performance of Naficy's work was included in a 2019 exhibit of artist Shirin Neshat titled "I Will Greet the Sun Again" at the Broad Museum in Los Angeles.^[13]

Naficy’s poetry has been engraved by the City in public spaces in Venice Beach and Studio City. His life and work was featured in LA Weekly, February 9-15, 2001 written by Louise Steinman, entitled "Poet of Revolution: Majid Naficy's Tragic Journey Home".

In January 2014, a film called "Majid Naficy’s Portrait” was aired on Voice of America in Persian. Now it is available with English subtitles on Youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okfGJgf4RRI Majid Naficy's poetry and prose have been anthologized in many books including Poetry in the Windows edited by Suzanne Lummis, Poets Against the War edited by Sam Hamill, Strange Times My Dear: The Pen Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Literature edited by Nahid Mozaffari and Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, Lounge Lit: An Anthology of Poetry and Fiction by the Writers of Literati Cocktail and Rhapsodomancy, Belonging: New Poetry by Iranians around the World edited by Niloufar Talebi, After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery for Life edited by Tom Lombardo, Becoming Americans: Four Centuries of Immigrant Writing edited by Ilan Stavans, Revolutionary Poets Brigade Anthology in two volumes edited by Jack Hirschman and Mark Lipman, Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here edited by Beau Beausoleil and Deema Shihabi, Others Will Enter the Gates: Immigrant Poets on Poetry, Influences, and Writing in America edited by Abayomi Animashaun, Wide Awake Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond edited by Suzanne Lummis, The Coiled Serpent: Poets arising from the cultural quakes and shifts of Los Angeles edited by Neelanjana Banerjee, Daniel A. Olivas and Luis J. Rodriguez and Open Doors: An Invitation to Poetry edited by Jie Tian, Irena Praitis,and Natalie Graham.

Works

In English

Modernism and Ideology in Persian Literature: A Return to Nature in the Poetry of Nima Yushij (doctoral dissertation), University Press of America 1997
Muddy Shoes (poetry) Beyond Baroque Books, Los Angeles 1999
Father and Son (poetry), Red Hen Press, Los Angeles 2003
My American Love: Thirty-Two Poems for Wendy, Aftab Publication, Norway 2021

In Persian

In Tiger’s Skin (poetry), AmirKabir Publisher, Tehran, 1969
Poetry As a Structure (theory), Isfahan 1970
Secret of Words (for children), Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, Tehran, 1970
Islamic Republic Party With Two Rusty Swords: Clericalism and State Capitalism(theory),Independent Marxist Peykar Organization, Tehran 1980
After the Silence (111 Poems), Sweden 1985
Sorrow of the Border (poetry), Los Angeles, 1989
In Search of Joy: A Critique of Death-Oriented, Male-Dominated Culture in Iran (theory) Baran Publisher, Sweden, 1991
Poems of Venice (poetry), Los Angeles 1991
I write to bring You Back (poetry and prose), Baran Publisher, Sweden 1999
Father and Son (poetry) Baran Publisher, Sweden 1999
The Story of a Love: A Series of twelve poems, Columbus, Javaneh Publisher 1999
Poetry and Politics and Twenty-Four Other Essays, Baran Publisher Sweden 1999
The Best of Nima, Baran Publisher, Sweden, 2000
Galloping Gazelles (poetry) London 2003
I Am Iran Myself and Thirty-Five Other Essays, Afra-Pegah Publisher, Toronto2006
Ezzat’s Treasure (poetry and prose), Toronto, Shahrvand Online, 2015
Cricket and Six other Long Poems, Avanevesht, Tehran 2016
Farewell and Other Short Poems, Avanevesht, Tehran 2018
Love and Death in Persian Literature and Forty Other Essays, Aftab Publication, Norway 2019
My American Love: Thirty-Two Poems for Wendy, Aftab Publication, Norway, 2021
Poodeh (a monograph), Avanevesht, Tehran 2021

References

^ "Peykar: Thought and Struggle". Retrieved April 3, 2018.
^ Weekly Peykar Appendix to No. 34, December 16, 1979: "The Zigzags of the Counter-Revolution (that is, Khomeini’s regime) and Their One-Sided Reflections Within the Ranks of the Revolution"
^ Weekly Peykar, Appendix to No. 73, September 23, 1980: "Iran-Iraq War Is Not in the Interests of the Massess of Two Countries"
^ "Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran : Ezzat Taba'iyan". Retrieved June 9, 2020.
^ "Iran Rights". Retrieved July 12, 2021.
^ "THE RAPPER SON OF AN IRANIAN POET IS BUILDING A NEW KIND OF RECORD LABEL". Retrieved July 7, 2021.
^ "Majid Naficy: The TNB Self-Interview". Retrieved April 20, 2020.
^ Louise Steinman (February 7, 2001). "Poet of the Revolution". LA Weekly. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
^ "Stanford University: Persian Poetry in Los Angeles: Nostalgia VS Adaptation".
^ "Persian Poetry in Los Angeles: Nostalgia VS Adaptation". Retrieved July 14, 2021.
^ "Poetry of Resilience". Retrieved April 1, 2018.
^ "ANNENBERG COMMUNITY BEACH HOUSE ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE". Retrieved September 12, 2020.
^ "The Logic of Poetry and Dreams - Majid Naficy". The Broad. November 7, 2019. Retrieved April 1, 2018.

@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 Majid Naficy took his first step toward [[Answering the Question: What Is Enlightenment? | Kantian maturity]] when in spring 1981 he dared to call for an "open polemic" regarding the change of tactics in the Editorial 110 within the centralized orthodox-Marxist Peykar Organization back in Iran. His second step to come out of his self-imposed immaturity happened in the summer 1985 when he decided to re-study Marx’s major works chronologically and systematically and present them as lectures for other Iranian Marxists in exile in a community room at University of Southern California. The result of this effort was nine lectures from June 1985 to November 1986 on nine books of Marx collectively called “Marx not as a Führer”.
+One night in September 1987 Majid Naficy dreamt of his lost brother Sa’id in Los Angeles. In his dream, Majid was hastily typing the thoughts that he wanted to share with his brother. For the last few years before the Revolution, due to their political differences, the two brothers did not talk to each other. Majid wanted to criticize the death-oriented thoughts and [[stoic]] lives of many of Iranian leftists who struggled against the Shah's regime in the seventies.  He wanted to show that they had many things in common with the people who saw [[Khomeini]] as their savior. They struggled for a communal joy, but they considered joy a sin for themselves. They longed for freedom, but they idolized their own school of thought and refused to have any conversation with others. They praised women, but their eyes could not bear the glare of female faces.  They mainly wanted to take political power, and left everything else to the future. This was the origin of the writing of “In Search of Joy: A Critique of Death-Oriented & Male-Dominated Culture in Iran”. This two-hundred-fifty-page book consists of an introduction on death worship before the Revolution, an appendix on the profile of Women in the poetry of the contemporary poet Ahmad Shamlou and nine chapters on classical poets [[Baba Taher]], [[Faez]], [[Khayyam]], [[Attar]], [[Rumi]], [[Sa’di]], [[Hafez]] and a folk tale and ends with Khomeini and sexuality. Although Naficy follows a trend of thought, that is appreciation of life and womanhood, yet he does not adhere to any particular school of thought in this book.  His criticism does not attempt to demonize Rumi and Hafez or burn their works, but it is an invitation to read them more seriously. He ends his foreword to the book as follows: “We are raised to a great extent under the spiritual influence of our classics. Therefore, if we want to go further, we should not close the path of analysis or criticism of our classical works to ourselves.”
-One night in September 1987 Majid Naficy dreamt of his lost brother Sa’id in Los Angeles. In his dream, Majid was hastily typing
-thoughts that he wanted to share with his brother. For the last few years before the Revolution, due to their political differences, the
-two brothers did not talk to each other. Majid wanted to criticize the death-oriented thoughts and stoic lives of many of Iranian Leftists who struggled against the [[Shah]]'s regime in the seventies. He wanted to show that they had many things in common with the people who saw Khomeini as their savior. They struggled for a communal joy, but they considered joy a sin for themselves. They longed for freedom, but they idolized their own school of thought and refused to have any conversation with others. They praised women, but their eyes could not bear the glare of female faces.  They mainly wanted to take political power, and left everything else to the future. This was the origin of the writing of Naficy’s book "In Search of Joy: A Critique of Death-Oriented & Male-Dominated Culture in Iran."
 In 1996, Naficy received his PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from the University of California at Los Angeles. Naficy ran in Los Angeles marathon twelve years consecutively. He is visually impaired due to retinal degeneration. Naficy lost most of his vision after climbing Mt. Whitney on July 22, 2001.