Books
Dec 28-31, 1998 / Dey 7-10, 1377
Book of the week
* History: Journey to
Persia
Past picks
* Art: Closed Circuit
History
* History/Fiction: The
Persian Boy
* Poetry: I Heard
God Laughing: Renderings of Hafiz
* History: The Assassin Legends : Myths of the Isma'Ilis
* Life & death: Soon
* Poetry: Dear Table
Legs
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Journey to Persia
Jean Chardin's Portrait of a Seventeenth-Century Empire
'Isfahan is half the world' was the proud boast of the seventeenth-century
capital of Persia. One of the travellers attracted to Persia was Jean Chardin,
a young French jeweller who spent most of his time in Isfahan. During this
time, he became intimate with the city; he was invited into people's houses
and entertained; he visited gardens and participated in hunts; his knowledge
of court affairs was extensive, and he travelled many miles, visiting other
towns and villages during Safavid Iran.
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Closed Circuit History
The illustrations of Ardeshir Mohassess
Ardeshir Mohassess is recognized internationally as Iran's leading caricaturist
and graphic artist (see
feature in The Iranian). Yet, as the powerful images on the following
pages show, neither appellation fully describes the breadth, depth, intricacy,
and complexity of his art and vision. In his drawings, be they detailed
tableau or simple, primitive sketches, Mohassess quite literally dissects
his characters with his pen and then peels away the conventional facade
to expose the underlying reality of his world... -- Ali Banuazizi
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The Persian Boy
By Mary Renault
I have read many books in my 17 years, but few have captured me as The Persian Boy has. It is the story of a persian boy
sold into slavery and eventually becomes slave to King Darius III. As Persia
is lost to Alexander's army early in the story, the boy becomes first a
servant then a lover to Alexander. Perhaps the most interesting part of
the story is that Renault maintains an enormous level of accuracy both
about the historical events, and about the relationship between this boy
and Alexander, based on records from the time. -- A reader
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I Heard God Laughing: Renderings of Hafiz
Edited by Henry S. Mindlin
Though he lived seven hundred years ago, Hafiz is still the most popular
poet of Persia, and one of the greatest love poets who ever lived. This
little book is perhaps the best introduction to his life and work. The
poems of Hafiz overflow with a profound appreciation of the beauty and
richness of life when seen through the eyes of love. -- The publisher,
Sufism Reoriented
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The Assassin Legends : Myths of the Isma'Ilis
By Farhad Daftary
Since the twelfth century fantastical tales of the Assassins, their
mysterious leader and their remote mountain strongholds in Syria and northern
Iran have captured the European imagination. These legends first emerged
when European Crusaders in the Levant came into contact with the Syrian
branch of the Nizari Ismailis, who at the behest of their leader were sent
on dangerous missions to kill their enemies. Elaborated over the years,
the legends culminated in Marco Polo's account according to which the Nizari
leader, described as the 'Old Man of the Mountain', was said to have controlled
the behaviour of his devotees through the use of hashish and a secret garden
of paradise.
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Soon: Tales from Hospice
By A. G. Mojtabai
Zoland Books, 1998
The Boston Globe writes: Mojtabai had led an unconventional but
cosmopolitan life in New York, Iran, and Cambridge, where she held an appointment
at Harvard; in Amarillo she unexpectedly found home. For several years
she has been a volunteer worker in the hospice at St. Anthony's Hospital
in Amarillo, and the 17 miraculous stories in ''Soon'' come out of that
experience... READ
MORE
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Deer Table Legs
Poems by Katayoon Zandvakili
The University of Georgia Press, 1998
Zandvakili lives in Piedmont, California, and writes for Publishers
Weekly. Her poems have appeared in The Massachusetts Review,
Five Fingers Review, Hawai'i Review, and the anthology A
World Between: Poems, Short Stories, and Essays by Iranian-Americans...
SEE FEATURE
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