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The veiled angels: Feminism in the stories of Spozhmai Zaryab
Rayhana Bayani authored this review for the Zan Times, translated into English by Rustam Seerat.
Spozhmai Zaryab is a prominent writer and a pioneer among female storytellers in Afghanistan. She has consistently focused her work on women’s issues and is critical of laws and traditions that oppress women.
In Shikar-e-Freshta (The Hunt for Angel), a collection of short stories written by Zaryab, one can observe her concerns, such as the imposition of discrimination and constraints on women (both in society and within the household), the entrenched humiliation and suppression of girls and women in culture, customs, and traditions, as well as the prominent role played by erroneous beliefs and religious superstitions in further infringing women’s rights in a patriarchal society.
The stories in this collection, selected by Mohammad Hussain Mohammadi and published by Amu Publishing House in Tehran in 2022, were written during the 1990s and vividly depict Afghanistan’s political, social, and cultural conditions during that turbulent era. In most stories, women play a central role as the narrator or main character.
In Khoroos Man (My Rooster), Zaryab critiques the biased and oppressive laws that, throughout…
