Dear Regime: Letters to the Islamic Republic

The Hysterical Is Historical: An Interview with Haji

The Hysterical Is Historical: An Interview with Haji Interviewer: What do you see as your first transgression? Haji: One day, when I was around five or six, I put Silly Putty on the Koran and took it to the mosque. After Friday prayers, as men began putting on their shoes, I stretched that most fundamental of texts beyond its limits. Interviewer: Were you punished? Haji: For years I received both lectures and lashes. Worse was the feeling of being torn between cultures, wanting to belong to the tradition I disparaged. Interviewer: So you felt like Silly Putty? Haji: I did. Interviewer: How would you currently describe yourself to your readers? Haji: I’m a four-leaf clover who’s been mown over. Interviewer: Both lucky and unlucky? Haji: The story of my life. Interviewer: Would you say it’s also the current condition of literature? Haji: Insofar as I embody such a spirit, yes. 60 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. Interviewer: Who are your greatest influences? Haji: For this interview, Socrates. For the scope of my work, Holden Caulfield, Omar Khayyam, and my namesake, Haji Baba of Isfahan. Interviewer: A couple of these are characters, not actual writers. This may be a touchy subject, but you are yourself an invention, no? Haji: It is as you say. Interviewer: Can you define your relationship to your creator? Haji: Can anyone? Interviewer: Point taken. Still, there’s something different about you as a literary subject. What would you say of your author? Haji: I figure this “Roger Sedarat” is much like Edmund Morris. Interviewer: Reagan’s biographer, the one who interjected a persona within the life of the president? Haji: Exactly, which was not a bad idea, except for the ethics involved. Interviewer: Do you feel betrayed? Haji: Yeah, and more than a little disappointed. Unable to truly write from himself, the poet invented me. 61 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. Interviewer: He could have done worse. Haji: Agreed. He made me a kind of Rumi with balls. Still, under the guise of artistic construction, I can’t figure how either of us could ever feel like a real man. 62 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. ...