Date

STORY

Coffee and Conversation (5)

Alas – life is but a one way street

by Flying Solo
18-Sep-2009 (7 comments)
Ideals? We all have them. Choices? We are all given. Values? Cherished by each. Dreams? Ours, without question. Destinies? Predetermined. Are they? What is life but an unknown journey through time and space? Play by the rules - we are told; walk along the well-trodden path. Then why the rebellious heart - the wild within? How to tame the untamable? Why reach for the skies? Aspire for the unattainable? Why gamble at the cruel game of chance? Why tempt fate? And play with fire? Why risk? But then one may as well ask - why live?>>>

FICTION

آسیه در میان دو دنیا

روایت زندگی زن روستایی ایرانی است، در گذرگاه عبور جامعه از سنت به مدرنیته

by Shahrnush Parsipur
18-Sep-2009 (2 comments)
آسیه، چهارده ساله، صدمترى دورتر از آخرین خانه ى روستا، نزدیك گورستان روى سنگى نشسته بود كه نامش را بالش رستم گذاشته بودند. داشت به نام خودش مى اندیشید. فكر كرد كاش اسمش صدیقه بود. نخستین بارى كه این نام را شنیده بود دچار این حس شده بود كه در اصل یك صدیقه نامى بوده است. و به خودش گفت دیگر باید فرار كنم. از سه روز پیش كه ماه جبین كتكش زده بود داشت به فرار فكر مى كرد، و مرد كه از دور پیدا شد آسیه فكر كرد به همین شوهر مى كنم.>>>

LIFE

An Introduction

I am setting out to write a book that opens up like a flower

by siamak vossoughi
18-Sep-2009
I am uninterested in writing a book that introduces Iranians to Western audiences, because I think the need is greater for Western audiences to be introduced to themselves. This is not as offensive a statement as it might seem. Any writer has to be interested in introducing his or her readers to themselves. It is supposed to be an intimate relationship, not one in which a shared intellectual interest is the thing keeping it going. I would rather that Western audiences and I have all kinds of trouble, the kind in which I am saying that I know what is really going on inside them>>>