Patricide

The generation that lived through the 1979 Iranian Revolution carries many anxieties and confusions. University life, revolutionary fervor, conflicts between religion and modernity, tradition and modernism, East and West, personal and emotional choices, struggles with government, society, and family—all these factors shaped Iran’s youth of 1979. Their concerns, issues, joys, sufferings, and inner and outer contradictions provided rich raw material for storytelling. Many writers have used this material since the first days after the revolution’s victory. “Patricide,” written by Malahat Niki, is one such story. It is a novel about the lives of four female students centered on a protagonist named Nahid, who faces numerous challenges during the revolutionary days. “Patricide” narrates their lives, always dissatisfied with everything and everyone, directing criticism at all but themselves. The novel encompasses both history and politics, exploring various facets of people during the most turbulent and volatile era of contemporary Iranian history, which still holds many dark spots to illuminate.