Women Without Men

A Novel of Modern Iran

Shahrnush Parsipur, Faridoun Farrokh

• Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781558617599
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literature General
• Index: Literature

From an outspoken Iranian author comes a "charming, powerful novella" that is banned in Iran for its depiction of female freedom ( Publishers Weekly ). "Parsipur is a courageous, talented woman, and above all, a great writer." —Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis This modern literary masterpiece follows the interwoven destinies of five women—including a wealthy middle-aged housewife, a prostitute, and a schoolteacher—as they arrive by different paths to live together in an abundant garden on the outskirts of Tehran. Drawing on elements of Islamic mysticism and recent Iranian history, this unforgettable novel depicts women escaping the narrow confines of family and society, and imagines their future living in a world without men. Reminiscent of a wry fable, Women Without Men creates an evocative and powerfully drawn allegory of life in contemporary Iran. Shortly after the novel's 1989 publication, Parsipur was arrested and jailed for her frank and defiant portrayal of women's sexuality. Banned in Iran, this national bestseller was eventually translated into several languages, giving new readers access to the witty and subversive work of a brilliant Persian writer. "Using the techniques of both the fabulist and the polemicist, Parsipur continues her protest against traditional Persian gender relations in this charming, powerful novella." — Publishers Weekly

Farrokhlaqa’s Garden

Part One

FARROKHLAQA WAS SPRAWLED in the back seat of the car. Ostovary, Mosayeb, and the driver were in the front. That is how they arrived at the gate of the garden at four in the afternoon. Ostovary was worried about his client’s reaction to the tree. Except for that, he had discussed all aspects of the property with her. As soon as the car came to a halt, he jumped out ahead of the driver and opened the car door for her. It was the driver’s last day of work. In fact he didn’t even have to work that day. The lady could have driven herself. But he had offered to drive ostensibly as a favor, but more to satisfy his own curiosity about the property she was about to acquire.

dp n="84" folio="72" ?

“You will notice what a jewel this property is,” Ostovary said.

Ignoring his pitch, Farrokhlaqa walked toward the gate ahead of the men. She stopped in front of the gate, turned her head to the left shoulder, a pose she had learned from her mother, and asked, “Is that it?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Ostovary answered, producing a large key from his pocket. “Allow me,” he said as he opened the gate and stepped back for the woman to pass.

Cautiously, Farrokhlaqa stepped across the threshold, trembling with excitement, which she tried to hide from her companions. Nonchalantly she started to walk along the gravel path while voraciously taking in every detail.

“Exactly as you desired, madam,” Ostovary noted, “just a few minor touchups here and there, and it will look gorgeous.” Farrokhlaqa nodded her head, acknowledging the remark.

The path circled around a reflecting pool with a bedstead next to it and led to the mosaic steps in front of the house. The building did not look very attractive. It was a slapdash, contractor-built job and it showed. Farrokhlaqa felt a tinge of disappointment.

“A coat of stucco would do the façade wonders,” Ostovary suggested.

Farrokhlaqa considered it for a moment. It wasn’t a bad idea, she thought. In fact it was a good idea, she decided, as she looked at the windows and found them of proper size, given the local climate.

Ostovary unlocked the front door to a spacious, cool entrance hall, with three large rooms on each side as well as a kitchen, a shower room, and a bathroom. The windows of the rooms looked out onto the garden and a narrow backyard.

“I like the kitchen,” was Farrokhlaqa’s first comment. “It is nice and big. But just one shower is not enough. We also need more than three rooms. I expect a lot of company.”

“As I said earlier, madam,” Ostovary said, “The foundation is firm and steel beams have been used in the framework. You can add another floor with no problem.” As he moved to another corner of the hall he added expansively, “A staircase could go from here to the top floor. An atrium could be set up here with a tree growing through to the next floor, even through the roof. It will look palatial.”

The thought of a tree growing inside a house befuddled Farrokhlaqa. “I came up with that idea myself,” Ostovary said with a touch of pride.

“We’ll see about that,” Farrokhlaqa declared, unconvinced. “As the tree grows, it will damage the foundation.” She had liked the house, although she knew she should not display enthusiasm in front of Ostovary. She had already decided on adding a second floor and fancied an expanded, dynamic social life with friends coming to visit on weekends and holidays. Thirty-two years of living with a cranky, temperamental man had lost her many friends. But that might be a blessing: she could initiate new friendships and associations of her own choice, with artists, writers, scholars, turning her parlor into a salon, in the fashion of high-class ladies of eighteenth-century Paris she had read about in novels. In the meantime, Ostovary kept up a running commentary as they continued the inspection of various parts of the property. He even counted the trees and had ideas about each. To keep up the garden, it would be necessary to hire a horticulturist, he believed. The garden had been left untended for a year and looked wild and overgrown.

Ostovary had arranged for the tour to be punctuated with stops at various trees, about each of which he had comments or ideas. “Madam,” he said, “you will not find a better deal in all of Karadj. To be honest, there are nicer homes and gardens here, but for the price you are paying, this is the very best. With minor improvements, this will turn into a paradise.” Farrokhlaqa had already made up her mind to buy the property and considered Ostovary’s solicitations redundant, but she let him go through his routine.

By now they had reached the river. “As you notice,” said Ostovary somewhat pompously. “The riverbank is the property line. The water current is so fast here that there is no danger of burglars crossing it. Besides, there are no burglars among the people here.”

“Is that so?” said Farrokhlaqa absent-mindedly, as her attention was drawn to the tree, finding it hard to believe that it was real. “Who is that?” she asked in amazement. Ostovary, who had anticipated this moment with dread, tried to answer as casually as possible: “Actually . . . this is a human being. But I promise you,” he continued, trying to reassure his client, “she is the most harmless person you’ll ever meet in your life.”

“So? What is she doing here?”

dp n="87" folio="75" ?

“How shall I say?” Ostovary stammered. “They let the property go so cheap because of this particular detail. I thought it would be a pity for you not to take advantage of the situation, especially, being a woman yourself, you could definitely tolerate this poor tree.”

Apprehensively, Farrokhlaqa stepped closer. “But this is not a tree; it’s a person.”

“That is quite so,” affirmed Ostovary. “Actually this poor tree . . . is the sister of the former owner of the property,” he added, as if mortified by the irrationality of his own statement.

“How strange!” Farrokhlaqa uttered sharply.

“It certainly is. This poor soul went mad and planted herself in the ground.”

“But this is not going to work. She needs to be taken to the insane asylum.”

“That is the problem,” Ostovary explained. “This wretched woman disappeared in the autumn of last year. They searched everywhere for her and did not find her. Finally they gave up and when they came to the garden for the summer season, they found her planted here in the ground. Well, they realized she’d gone mad. I tell you, madam, they tried so hard to pull her out of the ground, but found it impossible.”

Ostovary brought out a large bandana handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed his eyes. He then blew his nose in it noisily. Farrokhlaqa was somewhat moved by his emotional reaction to the narrative. “Is she not one of your own relatives, God forbid?” she asked.

“No way, I swear to God,” he said vehemently. He continued, “I haven’t cried in twenty years, but every time I see this poor woman I cannot hold back my tears. Anyway, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t get her out of the ground. And she pleaded with them ‘Please, don’t cut me down. Let me grow.’”

“But she hasn’t sprouted any branches,” Farrokhlaqa observed.

“No, not yet,” he said, “although she has spread roots and perhaps she’ll grow leaves by next year.”

“What about her family?” she wanted to know.

“What shall I say?” he replied. “They are all upset and miserable because of this embarrassment. How can they tell people that their daughter or sister has turned into a tree? You can’t tell people that. Any way, they came to see me and to consult with me. They said they’d let the property go cheap provided that the sellers remain anonymous. That is why you are able to buy the garden at a price well below the market value. It was your luck.”

“Why were they embarrassed by her?” asked Farrokhlaqa, unwilling to leave the subject. “There is no shame in becoming a tree.”

“What do you mean by that, madam?” Ostovary exclaimed with unaccustomed sharpness. “A sane person does not turn into a tree. One must be insane like this poor soul for the transformation to take place. The poor brother was crying when he told me, ‘Soon people will find out about my sister becoming a tree and start making fun of us, for example, calling us the Arbormans, Arbor-sons, and so on, or cover our walls with graffiti, and ruin the century-old reputation of our family.’

dp n="89" folio="77" ?

“And I tell you, madam, these people are a reputable family. How could they admit that one of them has turned into a tree? It is different if some one in the family becomes a minister or a member of the parliament. In fact one could boast of a relative in those positions. But how could you tell people that a family member has become a tree? Her brother told me that they wouldn’t have minded if she had become a milk maid, a dairy girl. After all, making yogurt is a trade. But becoming a tree? I don’t know about that.”

Farrokhlaqa moved around the tree, examining it carefully. Mosayeb and the driver were keeping their distance, afraid to come closer.

The tree appeared to be a woman in her late twenties. She was buried in the ground up to her knees, wearing a tattered dress, standing erect, watching her surroundings. Farrokhlaqa began to feel an attachment to the tree.

“I told her brother not to worry,” Ostovary continued, “I told him I had found a respectable lady from a substantial family as a buyer. I told him she is a real lady. She will tolerate poor Mahdokht on her property and keep your secret. She understands the importance of reputation.”

Farrokhlaqa was no longer listening to Ostovary. There was a sudden, radical shift in her mind. She was thinking of all she could do with this extraordinary tree. Not only could she build an entire literary movement around her, but she could also elevate herself to leadership positions in the political arena. There was no one else in the world who actually possessed such a phenomenon, which for the lack of a better term, she called human-tree. “Just as I was telling you, madam,” Ostovary interrupted her thoughts, “you can have a tree in the house. You can put a wall around this one to avoid notoriety and unwanted attention.”

With a human-tree in her possession, Farrokhlaqa thought, ignoring Ostovary, she would not need any other kind of tree. The fact that she had come to own it, meant that she was superior to others in native intelligence, intellectual capacity, spiritual and physical fitness. Others did not deserve to possess a human-tree because they did not have the capacity to understand the significance of the “human-tree.” Not that she herself fully understood the existential implications of owning a human-tree, but intuitively she knew that the tree would bring her fame and fortune. “No, Mr. Ostovary,” she responded to his interjection. “No need for a tree in the house. This one will remain here as is. I have no objection to it.”

Ostovary heaved a visible sigh of relief. “I was afraid you might find this unacceptable,” he admitted. “I was half thinking of buying the property myself, if you rejected the deal; only that I have six children and I was sure they would uproot the poor tree. Thank God you will go through with it.”

Farrokhlaqa started walking toward the garden gate as she continued her reflections, oblivious to Ostovary’s running commentary.

“Mosayeb, Akbar,” she shouted at the men, “Go back to the city and bring me back my luggage.”

“Are you going to stay here as of tonight?” Mosayeb asked. “The house is empty and unfurnished.”

dp n="91" folio="79" ?

“It’s not a problem,” she replied, “I want to stay here and personally oversee the renovations.” Turning to Ostovary, she asked if it were possible to find bricklayers and masons to start the work the next day.

Flabbergasted, Ostovary asked, “What is the hurry, madam? Stay in town for the time being. I will supervise the project. And Mosayeb will be here to help.”

“No,” Farrokhlaqa said emphatically. “I’ll be here myself. I don’t want it to take longer than a month.”

There was a knock at the garden gate. “It will not be proper, madam,” opined Mosayeb, as he moved toward the gate. “The local peasants don’t know you and they are nosy. You see? They are already at the door.”

“It’s not a big deal,” Farrokhlaqa said, “I’ll teach them not to mess around with me.”

Mosayeb opened the door to a man and woman. “Pardon me, young man,” the man addressed Mosayeb. “Is there need for a gardener at this villa?”

“For sure, my man, for sure,” Farrokhlaqa intervened, before Mosayeb could make a response. “Are you a gardener?”

“My dear lady,” answered the man, “I am a gardener. They call me ‘Kind Gardener.’ I am well-known for having a green thumb. I touch a bush and it sprouts a hundred stems, and I grow a hundred blooms on each stem.”

Farrokhlaqa’s head was spinning, what with the human-tree and now the green-thumb gardener.”

“Can you do construction work?” she asked.

“I can do everything, madam,” he replied boastfully. “Everything.”

dp n="92" folio="80" ?

“Who is that?” Farrokhlaqa asked, pointing to the woman beside him. “Your wife?”

“No, madam,” he answered. “I met this poor woman on the Karadj highway, confused, not knowing where she was. When she saw me she screamed and threw herself at my feet, crying. I asked her why she cried and kissed my feet. She said I was the first man she’d seen in six months that had a head.”

“Is she crazy?” Farrokhlaqa asked.

“I don’t think so,” said the man. “Anyway, she followed me here. She says her name is Zarrinkolah. She says at one time she did some sinful things, but she’s now foresworn it all.”

“Zarrinkolah,” Farrokhlaqa addressed the woman. “Can you cook?”

“No, Ma’am,” she answered.

“Can you do house cleaning?”

“No, Ma’am.”

“How about washing dishes?”

“No, Ma’am.”

“Then what can you do?”

“Madam,” said the woman, “I can learn to do all these things. What I can do is tell stories and sing songs. Besides, although I am young, I have a world of experience.”

“What is your real name?” Farrokhlaqa asked, turning to the gardener.

“What is the point of knowing my real name?” he answered. “Everyone calls me ‘Kind Gardener.’ You too can call me that.”

dp n="93" folio="81" ?

“Gardener,” she said, “as of today you are my employee. But what do we do about this woman?”

“Employ her, too,” Kind Gardener suggested. “She’ll mill around the place and learn to do things.”

“So be it,” said Farrokhlaqa. She thought the woman had th...