ABSTRACT
Tehran offers a remarkable experimental framework for exploring new dimensions of modern urban life. Neither a colonial city nor devoid of imperialist dynamics, Tehran has been developing and modernizing through a maelstrom of diverse, contradictory national and international forces which exploded in two revolutions and resulted in numerous political turmoils since the late nineteenth century. Literary works or novels are sources for exploring urban modernity as they evidence and contribute to the transformations in thought and practice linked to modernity. Upper-class Muslim women were normally educated at home by private tutors in the nineteenth century. Further female experiences also bear witness to how the fear of male sexual desires and unwanted advances delimits female presence in urban space. Female visibility and presence in public is largely associated with the city of modernity.
