Zahra Jannessari Ladani, PhD

Associate Professor of

English Language and Literature

Department of English Language and Literature

University of Isfahan, Iran

Education, Achievements and Job

Educational Background

Diploma: Mathematics, SAMPAD, 1999

BA: English Language and Literature, University of Isfahan, 2003 

MA: English Language and Literature, University of Shahid Beheshti, 2005 (Thesis: A Dialogic Study of William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury and Light in August)

PhD: English Language and Literature, University of Tehran, 2012 (Dissertation: The Baconian Utopia of Science in the Science Fiction of the American 1920s and 1930s)

Teaching Background

2003-2004: Jehad Daneshgahi of University of Isfahan Center, Isfahan

2005-2008: Sobhe-Sadegh Institute of Higher Education, Isfahan

2005-2006: Azad Najafabad University, Isfahan

2008-2009: University of Allameh Tabatabaei, Tehran

2008-2010: Al-Zahra University, Tehran

2009-2011: University of Tehran, Tehran

2012 to date: University of Isfahan, Isfahan

Courses Taught

_ BA Level: A Survey of English Literary History; Drama; English Poetry; Literary Schools; Literary Criticism; Contemporary Persian Literature; World Literature.

_ MA Level: Renaissance Literature; Modern European and American Drama; Twentieth-Century American Literature; Academic Research and Writing.

_ PhD Level: Baroque Poetry and Prose; Modernism in English Literature; Literature of Minorities in the US.

Administrative and Executive Records

2025-26: Cultural Judge of the Exemplary Student Festival of the Year 1404

2024: Cooperation with the "International Conference on Quranic and Prophetic Life Studies from the Europeans' Perspectives" as interpreter, University of Isfahan 

2023 to date: Member of the Committee of Theorization and Criticism of the Faculty of Foreign Languages

Awards

2025, Sep.: Commendable Cultural Deputy at the Second National Jaryan Festival, Razi University 0f Kermanshah

2025: Preeminent Teacher, University of Isfahan

2019: Distinguished Teacher, University of Isfahan

2019: 24th Isfahan's Biennial Book Award for The Repercussions of Renaissance Utopia in the Science Fiction of the American 1920s and 1930s published by University of Isfahan Press

1998: First Place in the National Competition of the Holy Quran, Sari

1997: Third Place in the National Competition of the Holy Quran, Urmia 

Research and Publications

Areas of Interest

_ Renaissance and Baroque Literature

_ Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction, Utopian/Dystopian Fiction, and Posthuman Fiction

_ Literary Criticism and Theory (especially Affect Studies, Posthuman Studies, Ecofeminist Studies, Cognitive Poetics, Adaptation Theories) 

_ Comparative Literature (specially between Persian and English)

_ Adaptation Studies (Dramatic, Cinematic, and Game Adaptations)

_ Indigenous Literatures of the United States and Canada alonside literature of the minoroties

Books

Jannessari Ladani, Zahra, and Seyed Mohammad Marandi. The Repercussions of Renaissance Utopia in the Science Fiction of the American 1920s and 1930s. University of Isfahan Press, 2017. (Winner of the 24th Isfahan's Biennial Book Award, 9 January 2019)

Book Chapters

6. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. "Utopian Mentalities and the Dystopian Future in Zoha Kazemi's Humanoid." The Speculative Route: Futures From South and Southwest Asia and North Africa, edited by Merve Tabur and Sami Ahmad Khan, Routledge, 2025, pp. 125-144. 

5. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “An Eye on the Past, an Eye on the Future: Charting an Independent Course for Iranian SF.” Arab and Muslim Science Fiction: Critical Essays, edited by Hosam A. Ibrahim Elzembely and Emad El-Din Aysha, MacFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, 2022, pp. 124-140.

4. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “Eco-Heroines and Saviors in Iraj Fazel Bakhsheshi’s Men and Super-towers and The Sun’s Sons.” Ecofeminist Science Fiction: International Perspectives on Gender, Ecology, and Literature, edited by Douglas Vakoch, Routledge, 2021, pp. 178-191.

3. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “Robert A. Heinlein in Historical and Cultural Context.” Critical Insights: Robert A. Heinlein, edited by Rafeeq McGiveron, Salem Press, 2015, pp. 27-41.

2. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “John W. Campbell and his Writers.” Sense of Wonder: A Century of Science Fiction, edited by Leigh Grossman, Wildside Press, 2011, pp. 128-130.

1. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. "Department of English Language and Literature." The Echo of Language: The Fortieth Anniversary of the Foundation of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, edited by Mohammad Taghi Shahnazari, University of Isfahan Press, 2017. [In Persian]

Edited Books

Sotudehnia, M. R. Quran recitation skills (level 1) (tajweed). Edited by Zahra Jannessari Ladani, Al-Mustafa, 1393.

Edited Translations

Vance, Janck. “Mazirian the Magician.” Translated Mehdi Bonvari, edited by Zahra Jannessari Ladani, Shegeftzar, vol. 2, no. 19, Jul. 2012, pp. 6-27.

Translated Books

Nelson, Christina. The Art of Reciting the Quran. Translated by Mohammad Reza Sotudehnia and Zahra Jannessari Ladani, Zamane No, 2011. [In Persian]

Translated Stories

2. Weinbaum, Stanley G. “The Worlds of If.” Translated by Zahra Jannessari Ladani, Shegeftzar, vol. 3, no. 1, special issue, Mar. 2011, pp. 24-57. [In Persian]

1. Weinbaum, Stanley. “Pygmalion’s Spectacles.” Translated by Zahra Jannessari Ladani, Shegeftzar, vol. 7, no. 1, Jul. 2011, pp. 6-29. [In Persian]

Articles

40. Goodarzi, Hojat, Pyeaam Abbasi, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. "The Anti-Aesthetic Age: How Postmodernism Unmade Beauty, Truth and the Body." Theoria, 2026, <http://doi.org/10.1111/theo.70097>.

39. Rahimnouri, Zahra, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. "Accept it and Join Us: A Janis-Based Analysis of Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros." Critical Langauge and Literary Studies (CLLS), vol. 23, no. 37, June 2026, <https://doi.org/10.48308/CLLS.2025.241531.1376>. 

38. Zandi, Samaneh, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. "Existential Death and (In)authenticity in Beckett's Molloy: A Yalomian Reading." Critical Literary Studies, vol. 8, no. 2, Spring and Summer 2026, pp. 39-57. <https://doi.org/10.22034/cls.2026.64177>.

37. Beigi Datli, Roohollah, Pyeaam Abbasi, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. "Prometheus' Cave as the Ivory Tower of Poetry: A Mytho-Archetypal Reading of Shelley's Prometheus Unbound." Folia Linguistica et Litteraria, vol. 51, 2025, pp. 49-68. 

36. Mohammad Amin Salarzaey, Hossein Pirnajmuddin, Zahra Jannessari Ladani. "Liberal Humanism and Don DeLillo's The Silence (2020)." Gema Online: Journal of Language Studies, vol. 25, no. 4, 2025, pp. 910-923. 

35. Goodarzi, Hojat, Pyeaam Abbasi, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. "Cides and De-Cidal Characters in Jumpa Lahiri's The Namesake: An Interdisciplinary Approach." Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, vol. 27, no. 2, 2025, pp. 239-262. http://doi.org/10.5325/intelitestud.27.2.0239

34. Al-Sowadi, Salah Mahdi Jabbar, Zahra Jannessari Ladani, and Pyeaam Abbasi. "Exploring the Posthuman Condition: Utopian and Dystopian Perspectives in Simpson's Trans-Human." International Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, vol. 14, no. 1, 2025, pp. 57-71. DOI: 10.55493/5019.v14i1.5359.

33. Muhssen, Lina, Hossein Pirnajmuddin, Zahra Amirian, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. "Economy of Creativity in Stevensons's 'Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird' and 'Six Significant Landscapes'." 3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature@ The Southern Asian Journal of English Language Studies, vol. 31, no. 1, 2025, pp. 183-196. http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2025-3101-13. 

32. Albushor, Baqer Safi Aziz, Pyeaam Abbasi, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. "Walcott's Dream on Monkey Mountain and Naipaul's A House for Mr. Biswas: A Fanonian Comparative Approach." World Journal of English Language, vol. 15, no. 4, 2025, pp. 225-233. DOI: 10.5430/wjel.v15v4p225.

31. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. "Remembrance and Recreation of Human Lost: Reading Humanoid through Memory Studies." Literary Criticism, vol. 17, no. 68, 2025, pp. 41-82. DOI: 10.48311/lcq.17.68.3, URL: http://lcq.modares.ac.ir/article-29-76891-en.html. [In Persian]

30. Mehrdad, Bidgoli, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. "Alterity and Tragic Sensation in Shakespeare and Fitzgerald: From Macbeth to The Great Gatsby." Critical Survey, vol. 35, no. 2, Summer 2024, pp. 95-104, DOI: 10.3167/cs.2024.360207.

29. Mokhtarzadeh, Ladan, Zahra Jannessari Ladani, and Negar Sharif. "Simulation and Modulation: Emotional Narrative in Louise Erdrich's The Round House." Critical Language and Literary Studies, vol. 19, no. 29, Autumn and Winter 2023, pp. 67-91. [In Persian]

28. Behrooz, Niloufar, Zahra Jannessari Ladani, and Hossein Pirnajmuddin. "Human Machines and Machinic Humans in Philip K. Dick's We Can Build You." ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Article, Notes and Reviews, vol. 36, no. 2, 2023, pp. 270-272, DOI:10.1080/0895769X.2021.1952058.

27. Teymouri, Tohid, Zahra Jannessari Ladani, and Pyeaam Abbasi. “Writing Space and Death Experience in Saul Bellow's Novels.” Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, vol. 64, no. 2, 2023, pp. 257-269, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00111619.2021.1994365.

26. Mortazavi, Seyedeh Sahar, Zahra Jannessari Ladani, and Hossein Pirnajmuddin. "'Need' and 'Desire' in Shakespeare's Sonnets and Mawlana's Ghazals: A Levinasian Reading." Critical Survey, vol. 35, no. 1, Spring 2023, pp. 94-105, DOI:10.3167/cs.2023.350106.

25. Datli Beigi, Roohollah, Pyeaam Abbasi, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. "Monstrosity in Shelley's The Triumph of Life through Akkerman's Citadel-to-Garden Trajectory." ORBIS Litterarum, vol. 77, 2022, pp. 299-313, https://doi.org/10.1111/oli.12347.

24. Datli Beigi, Roohollah, Pyeaam Abbasi, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. "Urban Decay of the Uncanny Return of Dionysus: An Analysis of the Ruins in Shelley's 'Ozymandias'." Critical Survey, vol. 34, no. 1, Spring 2022, pp. 74-86.

23. Behrooz, Niloufar, Zahra Jannessari Ladani. "Trivial Sublime in William Carlos Williams's Poetry." Research in Contemporary World Literature, vol. 27, no. 1, 2022, pp. 1-26. [In Persian]

22. Saei Dibavar, Sara, Zahra Jannessari Ladani. "Deconstructing Master Narratives through Cognitive Games in Hanay Geiogamah's Body Indian, Foghorn, and 49." Neohelicon, vol. 48, no. 2, 2021, pp. 695-718, http://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-021-00602-0.

21. Datli Beigi, Roohollah, Pyeaam Abbasi, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. '"Like Flowers or Creeping Words': The Poet as Phallic Symbol in Shelley's Alastor, Or the Spirit of Solitude." Jung Journal: Culture and Psyche, vol. 16, no. 1, 2022, pp. 116-133, DOI: 10.1080/19342039.2022.2016016.

20. Datli Beigi, Roohollah, Pyeaam Abbasi, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. "False Hermaphrodite in P. B. Shelley's Alastor, Or the Spirit of Solitude." Folia Linguistica et Litteraria, vol. 38, 2021, pp. 31-49, DOI: 10.31902/fll.36.2021.2.

 19. Goodarzi, Hojat, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. "Poetry as an Event of Silence in Archibald MacLeish's 'Ars Poetica': A Heideggerian-Deleuzean Reading." Critical Language and Literary Studies, vol. 18, no. 26, spring and summer 2021, pp. 55-76, DOI:10.52547/CLLS.18.26.55. [In Persian] 

18. Behrooz, Niloufar, Zahra Jannessari Ladani, and Hossein Pirnajmuddin. "The Sublime in Philip K. Dick's Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said." Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, vol. 61, no. 5, 2020, pp. 518-533, DOI:10.1080/00111619.2020.1760197.

17. Kasmaee, Hosna, Zahra Jannessari Ladani, and Pyeaam Abbasi. "The Idea of Carnival in Kitsis and Horowitz's Once Upon a Time: A Bakhtinian Reading." Studies in Literature and Language, vol. 17, no. 2, 2018, pp. 27-34, DOI:10.3968/10546.

16. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “Paradise Lost, Bible, and Quran: A Semantic Pathology of Judeo-Christian Tradition of the Fall Narrative.” Linguistic Research in the Holy Quran, vol. 8, no. 1, 2019, pp. 65-82. 

15. Teymouri, Tohid, Zahra Jannessari Ladani, and Pyeaam Abbasi. “Four Discourses and Sinthomatique Writing in Saul Bellow's Herzog: A Lacanian Approach.” 3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature ® The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, vol. 24, no. 3, Sep. 2018, pp. 111-124.  

14. Kashi, Sharareh, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. “The Representation of Fukuyama’s Pathways to a Posthuman Future in Brave New World and Never Let Me Go.” Journal of Literary Studies, vol. 33, no. 2, 2017, pp. 18-34.  

13. Sohrabi, Zohreh, Hossein Pirnajmuddin, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. “Love Is Empire: A Cognitive Analysis of Metaphors of Empire in John Donne's Love Poetry.” Anafora, vol. 4, no. 2, 2017, pp. 197-220. 

12. Hassanvandi, Samir, et al. “Translating Children’s Literature under Skopos and Equivalence Paradigms: A Case Study of the Little Prince.” Journal of Language and Translation Studies, vol. 48, no. 3, 2015, pp. 117-37. [In Persian]

11. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “Staircase, Chekhov, Labyrinth: Threshold Models and the Dream of Equilibrium in Radi's Plays.” Interpretive-Comparative Journal of Language and Literature, vol. 2, Spring & Summer 2015, pp. 1-27. [In Persian]

10. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “Billy Budd, Sailor on the Boundary between Romance and Novel: Melville’s Cultural, Philosophical, and Literary Paradoxes.” Research in Contemporary World Literature, vol. 19, no. 2, 2015, pp. 89-113. [In Persian]

9. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra, and Seyed Mohammad Marandi. “The Prison-House in the House on the Hill: Malcolm X and the Power of Knowledge.” Research in Contemporary World Literature, vol. 20, no. 1, Summer 2014, pp. 31-57. [In Persian]  

8.  Hassanvandi, Samir, Amir Hassanvandi, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. “A Study of Haiku Translation in Iran.” Translation Studies, vol. 12, no. 46, 2014, pp. 16-27. [In Persian]

7. Ansari, Narjes, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. “A Comparative Study of Poetic Themes in Nazok Malaekah and John Keats.” Lisan Mobin, vol. 5, no. 13, 2013, pp. 1-38. [In Persian]

6. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “Tradition and/or Modernity in Contemporary Iranian Short   Fiction.” Research in Contemporary World Literature, vol. 17, no. 3, 2013, pp. 141-56. [In Persian]

5. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “The Rise of the Pulps (1900s-1930s).” A Virtual Introduction to Science Fiction, edited by Lars Schmeink, 2012, <http://virtual-sf.com/?page_id=153>, pp. 1-12.

4. Marandi, Seyed Mohammad, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. “Francis Bacon’s Utopia of Science and Stanley G. Weinbaum’s SF Stories.” Research in Contemporary World Literature, vol. 61, Spring 2011, pp. 77-94. [In Persian] 

3. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra, and Fazel Asadi Amjad. “Classicism and/or Romanticism: a Survey of Aesthetics in The Winter's Tale.” Pazhuhesh-e Zabanha-ye Khareji, vol. 56, 2010, pp. 69-87. 

2. Ghaderi, Behzad, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. “Utopia or the Labyrinth of Reason? William Blake’s Polemic with Francis Bacon.” Pazhuhesh-e Zabanha-ye Khareji. vol. 54, Autumn 2009, pp. 67-87. [In Persian] 

1. Vahid Dastjerdi, Hossein, Hadi Hakimshafaei, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. “The Translation of Poetry: Towards a Practical Model for Translation Analysis and Assessment of Poetic Discourse." Journal of Language and Translation, vol. 9, no. 1, 2008, pp. 7-40. 

Book Reviews

Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. Review of Other Spacetimes: Interviews with Speculative Fiction Writers, edited by Van Ikin and Damien Broderick. SFRA Review: A Publication of the Science Fiction Research Association, vol. 319, winter 2017, pp. 11-13, http://sfra.org/resources/Pictures/SFRA%20319.pdf.  

Video Lectures

Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. Lecture. “The Rise of the Pulps (1900s to 1930s).” Edited by Lars Schmeink, A Virtual Introduction to Science Fiction, 2012, http://virtual-sf.com/?page_id=153.

Conferences

19. Tahmasebi Nam, Farhad, Zahra Jannessari Ladani, and Hossein Pirnajmuddin. "The 'Instinct of Workmanship' in Dos Passos's U.S.A. Trilogy." 2nd International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture and History Studies, 8 May 2019, New Vision University, Tbilisi.

18. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra, and Hossein Pirnajmuddin, webinar hosts. “Translation, Ideology and its Various Dimensions." Presented by Behzad Barekat, 1 Nov. 2018, University of Isfahan, Isfahan.

17. Kasmaee, Hosna, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. “Characters in the Heteroglot, Carnivalized World of Once Upon a Time." The Second International Conference on Current Issues of Languages, Dialects and Linguistics, 2018, p. 17.

16. Kashi, Sharareh, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. “A Harawayian Reading of the Cyborg in Brave New World and Never Let Me Go.” First International English-French Conference on Applied Linguistics and Literature, 2016, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj.

15. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra, et al. “Panel on Contemporary Native American Literature: Dilemmas and Debates.” Research Week, 2016, University of Isfahan, Isfahan.

14. Rezaee, Faezeh, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. “Who Gazes Back? A Poststructural Account of the Embodied Other in Raymond Carver’s ‘Neighbors’.” 3^rdInternational Conference on Applied Research in Language Studies, 2016, pp. 1-5. 

13. Kasmaee, Hosna, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. “The Challenges of Teaching Paradise Lost to Muslim Iranian Students.” Europe-Revue Litteraire Mensuelle, 2016, pp. 433-38. 

12. Kasmaee, Hosna, Safoura Hajesmaaeli, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. “The Rebirth of Magic in the Renaissance: A Comparative Study of Magic in Macbeth& Tempest.” Second Conference on Interdisciplinary Approaches to Language Teaching, Literature and Translation Studies, 2015, p. 112.

11. Kashi, Sharareh, Diba Arjmandi, and Zahra Jannessari Ladani. “A Psychoanalytical Reading of The Symphony of the Dead from a Lacanian View.” Ninth International Conference of the Association of Persian Language and Literature, Summer 2014, Payam Noor University of Northern Khorasan, Bojnord.

10. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “Energy and Aesthetics in William Blake’s ‘Tiger’.” Research Week, Dec. 2013, Isfahan University, Isfahan.

9. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “The Significance and Methods of Acquiring Literature.” Research Week, 15 Dec. 2012, Isfahan University, Isfahan.

8. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “The Mind and the Machine in Stanley G. Weinbaum’s Science Fiction.” Dreams Not Only American: Science Fiction's Transatlantic Transactions, 7-10 Jul. 2011, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Lublin.

7. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. Lecture. American Science Fiction, its Origins and Domain (Part Two), 2011, Tehran University, Tehran.

6. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “American Science Fiction, its Origins and Domain (Part one).” Research Week, 2010, Tehran University, Tehran.

5. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “Translation, Psychology, and the History of Ideas in Comparative Literature.” Seminar on Comparative Literature, Mar. 2009, Tehran University, Tehran.

4. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “The Crack Right Across the Brow: American Contradictions Revisited in Billy Budd, Sailor.” The Third Postgraduate Conference on Issues in FEFL and English Literature, 25 Dec. 2008, Tehran University, Tehran.

3. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “Francis Bacon as a Liar: The Portrait of Reason from Utopia to Hell.” Literature and Science, 2009, Tehran University, Tehran.

2. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “Tradition and/or Modernity: An Assessment of the Relation between Tradition and Modernity in Six Cotemporary Iranian Short Stories.” The Short Story: Its Domain and Development in the World and in Iran, 20-21 Feb. 2008, Tehran University, Tehran.

1. Jannessari Ladani, Zahra. “The Paradox of Other in William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury and Light in August.” The Fourth Biennial Conference of Comparative Literature: The Self and Others, Tehran University Press, 2006, pp. 243-258.

A Selection of Supervised Theses/Dissertations

Email: z.jannessari@fgn.ui.ac.ir; zjannessaril@gmail.com

Tel: +98 313 7932549

Address: Department of English, Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Isfahan, HezarJerib St., Isfahan 81746-73441, IRAN

Researcher's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2417-5142

Researcher's Scopus Code: 36571783900

Web of Science Researcher ID: U-4452-2017

Researcher's Google Scholar Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=T5M-qd4AAAAJ