Laughing Without An Accent

Firoozeh Dumas’s Laughing Without An Accent: Adventures of a Global Citizen (2008) is a memoir of her experiences as an Iranian American, navigating cultural differences and misunderstandings with wit and warmth. The book is a follow-up to her 2003 book, Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America. Dumas moved to California with her family at the age of seven, later lived in Tehran and Ahvaz, and then moved back to California. Funny in Farsi was nominated for a Thurber Prize for American Humor.

The book is a series of vignettes in no particular order, ranging from just before the book’s publication to when Dumas was six and living in Iran. She writes in a chatty, conversational tone that is light and funny.

The first story is about Dumas’s efforts to have her first book, Funny in Farsi, translated into Persian. It was important to her to make her work accessible to her native people, so she decided to find her own translator for the book, one she trusted to keep her meaning as close as possible to the original text. She talks about the difficulties of translating humor from one language to another: not every joke can be translated.



There are other difficulties for Dumas: Iran, as she explains, is a hotbed of pirated books and unauthorized translations. Anyone who wants to can translate and publish any book they wish. She mentions the story of a history professor who discovers a book of his has been translated into something wildly different in Iran. He approaches the Iranian publisher but is told their translation is better than his book.

Eventually, Dumas is able to get her work translated as she wishes. It’s a hit, and she’s invited to Iran to receive an award. Her Iranian publisher tells her the book was a success because her humor didn’t demonize either Americans or Iranians. “We don’t hate Americans,” he explains.

Another story describes Dumas’s emerging love for literature as a child. On her first visit to the library, she was wary; she didn’t think the books could really be available for free. So, she brought her purse and money with her, just in case. School in America was a culture shock when she first moved to California. Dumas was astonished to find teachers were kind. In Iran, teachers were to be feared, and they assigned many hours of homework even for young students. She was also surprised to discover classroom parties and celebrations scattered throughout the year, time devoted to having fun rather than studying.



Dumas seems to prefer the Iranian curriculum, though, which she credits with teaching her the discipline she needed. Her perspective is that fun is for after school, not during. She also points out the way that American students bully the smartest of their peers; intelligence seems to be ridiculed, not revered.

Some chapters are more poignant. At one point, Dumas discusses the ways Iran has changed since her childhood. Her family was afraid and ashamed during the Iran Hostage Crisis, for example; later, they met and befriended one of the hostages. Dumas explains that her parents no longer visit Iran. She says they find it painful and exhausting to see how their country has changed. They will only look at old photos of Iran, the peaceful, promising country they remember.

In another anecdote, Dumas skewers the American tradition of Thanksgiving. She finds the American need for sugar confusing, describing a marshmallow-topped sweet potato casserole as a recipe invented by “a hyperactive, toothless three-year-old.” Sweet potatoes, she insists, are sweet enough on their own. Pairing them with additional sugar is like “Einstein marrying Charo.”



Not all of the book deals with cultural differences or what it’s like to be an immigrant. Elsewhere, Dumas explores family plights that are universal, like receiving an unwanted gift from a relative that must, nonetheless, be displayed so as not to hurt their feelings. Dumas’s mother, whose taste does not match her own, once sent her a comforter Dumas found hideous. But to assuage her mother and show appreciation, she was obliged to use it.

Dumas’s prose in Laughing Without An Accent humanizes both Iranians and Americans to her dual audiences. She describes both halves of her culture as something to be sympathized with, something to laugh along with, and not at. Dumas received critical praise for her ability to observe and joke about life as an Iranian American. Kirkus Reviews compared her wit to both David Sedaris and Margaret Cho, though the review also noted the book would have benefited from a few sharper cultural insights. In 2016, Dumas wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel.