Ghosts of Revolution: Rekindled Memories of Imprisonment in Iran

In this haunting account, Shahla Talebi remembers her years as a political prisoner in Iran. Talebi, along with her husband, was imprisoned for nearly a decade and tortured, first under the Shah and later by the Islamic Republic. Writing about her own suffering and survival and sharing the stories of her fellow inmates, she details the painful reality of prison life and offers an intimate look at a critical period of social and political transformation in Iran.

Somehow through it all—through resistance and resolute hope, passion and creativity—Talebi shows how one survives. Reflecting now on experiences past, she stays true to her memories, honoring the love of her husband and friends lost in these events, to relate how people can hold to moments of love, resilience, and friendship over the dark forces of torture, violence, and hatred.

At once deeply personal yet clearly political, part memoir and part meditation, this work brings to heartbreaking clarity how deeply rooted torture and violence can be in our society. More than a passing judgment of guilt on a monolithic “Islamic State,” Talebi’s writing asks us to reconsider our own responses to both contemporary debates of interrogation techniques and government responsibility and, more simply, to basic acts of cruelty in daily life. She offers a lasting call to us all.

“The art of living in prison becomes possible through imagining life in the very presence of death and observing death in the very existence of life. It is living life so vitally and so fully that you are willing, if necessary, to let that very life go, as one would shed chains on the legs. It is embracing, and flying on the wings of death as though it is the bird of freedom.”

在这篇令人难以忘怀的记述中，沙拉·塔雷比回忆起她在伊朗当政治犯的岁月。Talebi和她的丈夫一起被监禁了近十年，并受到酷刑，先是在国王统治下，后来是在伊斯兰共和国。她写了自己的痛苦和生存，并分享了她的狱友的故事，详细描述了监狱生活的痛苦现实，并提供了对伊朗社会和政治转型关键时期的亲密观察。

不知何故，塔勒比通过这一切–通过抵抗和坚定的希望、激情和创造力–展示了一个人是如何生存的。现在回顾过去的经历，她忠于自己的记忆，纪念在这些事件中失去的丈夫和朋友的爱，讲述人们如何在酷刑、暴力和仇恨的黑暗力量中保持爱、韧性和友谊的时刻。

这部作品既是深刻的个人化，又是明确的政治性，部分是回忆录，部分是冥想，它令人心碎地清楚地表明，酷刑和暴力在我们的社会中是多么根深蒂固。对于一个铁板一块的伊斯兰国，他的作品不仅仅是一个短暂的有罪判决，它还要求我们重新思考自己对当代关于审讯技巧和政府责任的辩论的回应，更简单地说，是对日常生活中基本残忍行为的回应。她为我们所有人提供了永恒的呼唤。

通过在死亡面前想象生活，在生命的存在中观察死亡，在监狱里生活的艺术成为可能。它是如此充满活力和充实的生活，以至于你愿意，如果必要的话，让这种生活过去，就像一个人会脱下腿上的锁链一样。它拥抱死亡，展翅飞翔，仿佛它是自由的鸟儿。