Rütgers (Germany)

A defense destined to be sacred? Conflicting narratives and the contentious beginnings of Iran–Iraq war literature in Iran

The Iran–Iraq War (1980-1988) has been a major theme in Persian fiction published in Iran since 1980. Within Iran, the literature of this war is often framed as the “literature of the Sacred Defense,” in reference to the Iranian regime’s narrative of the war as a “battle between...