Amir Reza Koohestani & Keyvan Sarreshteh – Persianlove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Pronouns

Persian is a language of ambiguity. Its greatest achievements in poetry thrive on the ambiguous nature of “the lover”. Who was this lover the great poets talked about? Was it, as history suggests, a boy? Was it, as the Sufis believe, an allusion to god? Or was it, as the patriarchal society implied, a young woman? It could be all, for Persian pronouns do not have genders.
What happens to well-known romantic scenes, to the great descriptions of love, if we take the gender out of their pronouns?
Let’s find out.

A

1. Stand in front of your library and look for a book with some romantic scenes. (If we may suggest, maybe try something from the 18th century English literature as its depiction of romantic tension devoid of physical and erotic imagery is quite similar to Persian ones.)

2. Choose a scene and write it down using the formula below:

a. Change every “He” and “Him” to “it”.
b. Change every “She” to “it”.
c. Change every “Her” to “it” or “its”.
d. Change every “His” to “its”.
e. Change every “Himself” and “Herself” to “itself”.
f. Do not alter any names or honorifics “Mr.” and “Mrs.”.
g. If there is any “Man” or “Woman” in the text, let it be.

3. Read the scene you’ve re-written. Do not get discouraged if it starts to fall apart in your head. Read the whole thing aloud.

Below you can find an example from “Persuasion” by Jane Austen:

“Yes; it had done it. It was in the carriage, and felt that it had placed it there, that its will and its hands had done it, that it owed it to its perception of its fatigue, and its resolution to give it rest. It was very much affected by the view of its disposition towards it, which all these things made apparent. This little circumstance seemed the completion of all that had gone before. It understood it. It could not forgive it, but it could not be unfeeling. Though condemning it for the past, and considering it with high and unjust resentment, though perfectly careless of it, and though becoming attached to another, still it could not see it suffer, without the desire of giving it relief. It was a remainder of former sentiment; it was an impulse of pure, though unacknowledged friendship; it was a proof of its own warm and amiable heart, which it could not contemplate without emotions so compounded of pleasure and pain, that it knew not which prevailed.”*

How did it sound? How did the meaning change? Did it sound strange? Was it too vague? Too complex? Too nonsensical? Don’t worry, that’s to be expected. it was only the first step.

B

1. Say the word “rule” aloud five times.

2. Keep the “ou” sound from the middle of that word. Repeat “ou” five times. Ou in Persian is used for singular he and singular she.

3. Go back to the original scene.

4. Rewrite the original scene using the formula below:

a. Change every “He” and “Him” to “ou”.
b. Change every “She” to “ou”.
c. Change every “Her” to “ou” or “ou’s”.
d. Change every “His” to “ou’s”.
e. Change every “Himself” and “Herself” to “ou’s self”.
f. Do not alter any names or honorifics “Mr.” and “Mrs.”.
g. If there is any “Man” or “Woman” in the text, let it be.

5. Read the new scene aloud.

Here is our retouched example:

“Yes; ou had done it. ou was in the carriage, and felt that ou had placed ou there, that ou’s will and ou’s hands had done it, that ou owed it to ou’s perception of ou’s fatigue, and ou’s resolution to give ou rest. ou was very much affected by the view of ou’s disposition towards ou, which all these things made apparent. This little circumstance seemed the completion of all that had gone before. Ou understood ou. Ou could not forgive ou, but ou could not be unfeeling. Though condemning ou for the past, and considering it with high and unjust resentment, though perfectly careless of ou, and though becoming attached to another, still ou could not see ou suffer, without the desire of giving ou relief. It was a remainder of former sentiment; it was an impulse of pure, though unacknowledged friendship; it was a proof of ou’s own warm and amiable heart, which ou could not contemplate without emotions so compounded of pleasure and pain, that ou knew not which prevailed.”

Did it in any way alter your mental image of the scene? How about some scenes that you are reading for the first time? Or scenes you have forgotten the details of? Where else can “ou” go?

C

Play around with “ou”.
Here are some suggestions for you to start:

• Find some English translation of Persian poetry. Replace every He and She with “ou” as there are no gender-based pronouns in Persian and they are almost certainly simple interpretations of the translators and academics, based on gender-based stereotypes.
• Write some of your memories using only “ou”.
• Review advertisements and see how they change with “ou”.

* “Yes; he had done it. She was in the carriage, and felt that he had placed her there, that his will and his hands had done it, that she owed it to his perception of her fatigue, and his resolution to give her rest. She was very much affected by the view of his disposition towards her, which all these things made apparent. This little circumstance seemed the completion of all that had gone before. She understood him. He could not forgive her, but he could not be unfeeling. Though condemning her for the past, and considering it with high and unjust resentment, though perfectly careless of her, and though becoming attached to another, still he could not see her suffer, without the desire of giving her relief. It was a remainder of former sentiment; it was an impulse of pure, though unacknowledged friendship; it was a proof of his own warm and amiable heart, which she could not contemplate without emotions so compounded of pleasure and pain, that she knew not which prevailed.”

“Persuation”, Chapter 10, Jane Austen