‘The Song of Inverted Tulips’ is the Dormant Voice Within Women / Creating Meaning Amidst Crisis

According to the reporter of the Iran Book News Agency (IBNA) in Qom, Younes Azizi, a storyteller and literary critic, speaking at a review session for the story collection ‘The Song of Inverted Tulips’ by Luma Obaidi at the Maha Literary Association of Qom University of Art and Thought, noted that the central theme of ‘The Song of Inverted Tulips’ is women’s solitude. He stated: This book is a report on women’s emotions, feelings, loneliness, resistance, resilience, life, sorrow, pain, and silence, and in fact, it is the dormant voice within women.

Azizi added: The women in this collection, with all the roles they undertake in life as wives, sisters, mothers, etc., come to the conclusion that to build their lives, they must seek refuge within themselves and stand on their own feet.

This storyteller clarified: The main axis that allows women in the stories to live and return to themselves is a conclusion based on spirituality and reliance on a transcendent power, which is the author’s choice, as everyone finds their stance and support in this matter and acts accordingly.

The author of the novel ‘The Left-Handed’ continued: Incidentally, faith and spirituality are seen throughout the collection and are well-embedded in the stories from an overall perspective.

Azizi added: Some women, in situations similar to those of the women in this book, might blame others when faced with neglect and indifference and engage in exhausting conflicts. However, the women in this collection choose the path of returning to themselves based on faith and spirituality, and in this solitude, they do not falter, building their world acceptably.

This book author emphasized: The author creates meaning for the women in her stories from the heart of all crises, rescuing them from meaninglessness and wandering amidst countless problems. In fact, the efforts of the women in the collection and their resilience in the face of crises to achieve their desired meaning in life, along with the self-confidence they gain along this path, are commendable.

‘The Song of Inverted Tulips’ is a Feminine Collection

In another part of this session, Somayeh Soltanpour, a literary agent, said about the book: The book is centered on the theme of women, who are engaged in a struggle with individual, family, and social problems, and in this solitude, they reach a desired point. However, it cannot be said that ‘The Song of Inverted Tulips’ has a feminist perspective, as we do not see feminist symbols in the story.

Soltanpour continued: In my opinion, this story collection is feminine, not feminist, because ‘feminine’ and ‘feminist’ are different.

This literary critic, referring to the criteria and characteristics of feminist stories, said: Feminist stories must possess certain features. One is the representation of lived female experience. Therefore, the story’s protagonist must be a woman and show us a woman’s life. Or it should focus on women’s feelings and concerns and show us a woman’s connection with the home, workplace, and society, and in this context, criticize a patriarchal viewpoint. Thus, we must necessarily have a negative male character.

She added: These points I mentioned are not seen with the same intensity as they are in feminist stories.

Soltanpour clarified: One of the themes of feminist stories is egalitarianism. That is, in feminist stories, we have a female character who desires equality and wants to be on par with men, which we do not see in this collection.