Stories from Iran: A Chicago Anthology

R. Royce glanced at some citrus fruits that had fallen out of a suitcase and rolled across the polished linoleum floor at DFW International Airport, belonging to a family arriving via Heathrow. He suggested that they eat the fruits before arrival or put the prohibited items in the Agriculture bin for disposal. One of the family members gave him a tasty pastry containing pistachio nuts, fresh from a bakery in Tehran. It made for a delicious complement to his morning coffee. He thought about the neighbor's Calico cat, with its "coat of many colors." His neighbor Natalie brought the cat home as a kitten, but it didn't have any outside playmates. Her dogs stayed at her Mom's house across the road and one house over, inside the house, or in the backyard. Rascal liked to wander, roam around, and explore her jungle, as would any lion cub. She became friends with the squirrels that lived in the trees in the yards of several houses, including his. Royce lived directly across the street from Natalie. Rascal would climb up the tree trunk and out on a limb after a squirrel. But the squirrel would leap over to a dangling branch of the next closest tree. She scampered around the yard, playing with them. She enjoyed chasing them. She learned to swish her tail back and forth as would a squirrel. She visited Royce every day, racing to the storm door so he would let her inside. He would comb her hair with a brush and give her tidbits to eat. She guarded his house and would fight off prowling cats, the intruders from the south end of the block. She was very protective of him and they watched television together. She accompanied him as he watered the four dozen or so rose bushes he grew around the perimeter of his back yard. Growing roses was a relaxing hobby. The birds, bees, and butterflies seemed to like them. He was especially fond of the little red-headed woodpecker that woke him up in the morning and the hoot owls that he heard before going to sleep at night. He enjoyed the cooing sounds of the doves that came to town during hunting season. They escaped a shotgun reward. Royce was the kind of fellow who would rush down to the creek in eager anticipation of a flash flood. He felt perfectly safe from tornadoes. Once while driving toward the Red River in a U-haul moving truck on I-35, he shot the mile-long gap between slow-moving twin tornadoes traveling in a perpendicular path from west to east directly in front of his north bound vehicle. He drove on through the wind and the rain to northeast Oklahoma. He missed living in west Texas--except for in July and August, when the temperature often soared above 100 degrees and the searing sun beat down on you mercilessly. The heat was overpowering and sweltering at times. Neither did he miss the biting insects. Standing in a bath-tub of cold bleach-water, he found a viable solution for the stinging welts on his feet and ankles. Wearing leather boots instead of sandals would have helped. Too, he was still trying to wrap his head around the idea that "fracking" gas wells and horizontal drilling may have caused earthquakes in the vicinity and cracking in the walls of his nice brick home. I wanted to read the book, Catherine the Great, first, thinking Stories From Iran: A Chicago Anthology 1921-1991, edited by Heshmat Moayyad and published in 1991, would prove dull and tedious reading. Silly and pointless, by way of comparison. Fairy tales. "Arabian Nights." "Sinbad the Sailor," "Ali Baba" and all that. The culture and people must be completely alien to the western civilization subjects about which I have been used to reading. On the contrary, I found the stories appeared more interesting and with greater depth of character than I had originally thought. Perhaps, this is because the authors were generally well-educated and well-traveled. Many were educated in European countries. Some might have visited the United States. Many were professionals--doctors, lawyers, engineers, and prominent civil servants. They were affluent people who knew what is takes to build a nation. Some were dissidents and exiles, who knew you cannot impose your will on the people, dictating extreme laws and harsh rule, forcing your strict religion on those whose beliefs differ, and inflicting cruel and excessive punishment on offenders. In doing so, no national leader could ever expect to achieve peaceful, prosperous, and positive results. Indeed, these authors could have provided the inspiration for social reform in the Iran of today and tomorrow. They might have made the Middle East a better place to live and visit. Highly esteemed and influential, some of the more recent authors are probably still living today. If so, they undoubtedly would be pillars of society. Most interesting to me, at any rate, is the fact that one of the authors was the son of a Muslim cleric. He lived to the ripe old age of 104 or 105 years. He seemed clever and witty enough, judging from the caliber and quality of his writing. He also appeared to be a very wise man, due to the simple fact that, having been stationed at the Iranian embassy in Berlin for a number of years, he had the good sense to leave the country just before the rise of the third Reich and World War II began. A truly wise man anticipates and gets out of harm's way. A good variety of stories have been included in the book. If I counted correctly, there are thirty-five of them. The substance of the stories--the nuclear core, if you will, as I have grasped their meaning, significance, and concept is as follows:1. "What's Sauce for the Goose is Sauce for the Gander" is about the general conditions of life in Iran, according the a prominent leader's secret masseur. Fact or fiction, you get the idea that you want show up wearing the right kind of hat. They're sort of like the Quakers, in this respect.2. "Abj Khanom" is about the sibling rivalry between two sisters, one of whom is more worldly and the other, more religious. One of them becomes radical and fanatical. She is so inclined as to drop a bombshell on the party at any given moment.3. "Mirza" is about a wealthy conservative Iranian who fled the country without his wife and daughter. While living in Paris, he meets his grown daughter. They have a heart-to-heart chat.4. "The Snake Store" is about the temptations faced by a beautiful, young Iranian wife in a rural village. Her jealous neighbor baits and sets a trap for her.5. "The Wooden Horse." The good, persevering wife lights a Trojan horse on fire. It symbolizes everything she loves, honors, and cherishes in life. It represents her hopes, aspirations, and dreams. Afterwards, there is nothing to look forward to but pain, suffering, and death.6. "The Grave Digger" is about a poor, destitute, pregnant teenager who needs love. All she wanted out of life was a pony or a puppy. A teddy bear!7. "The Half-Closed Eye" is about a family who strives and connives to get ahead in life. They smuggle and sell drugs for a living. Some get hurt along the way.8. "Emat's Journey." A young girl runs away from home. She goes on a pilgrimage to Mecca. She learns to serve God and man. A deeply religious man teaches her and offers her shelter.9. "The American Husband." A spoiled, rich Iranian woman marries an American day laborer. He makes an honest living, but she expects more out of life.10. "The Little Native Boy." A village boy falls in love with an English girl in an oil industry boom town. Union members, local officials, company representatives, police, and agitators interact to create a volatile situation. Violence erupts.11. "Through the Veil of Fog." A female college student gets an education in England. She socializes with others who share common interests.12. "Glorious Day" is about an official who goes on holiday and meets the girl of his dreams. She pleases him immensely and recites poetry to him. She becomes the most unforgettable person he ever met.13. "Moths in the Night" is a story about an epiphany. It's a reality check of sorts. You're not really sure what happened, what went wrong, but you sense that something terrible did go wrong. The first step of course is to recognize you have a problem.14. "The Cast" is an incomplete story about a dentist who takes care of business. It is as if the story should be the first chapter of a novel that should have been written instead of a short story. You think, "Can you expound, expand, or explain what's going on?" You sense that a crime has been committed, but you don't see the big picture. You don't know the situation or circumstances. There is no edification. No feeling of justice or heroic action. You don't get closure. Nobody wins.15. "Adolescence and the Hill." This is a story about a child who never grew up. Peter Pan with serious weapons and no purpose or direction in life. He lacks guidance and opportunity.16. "Mr. Hemayat." A man battles with his alter ego, his true self. The man interacts with himself throughout the day. Together, they have quite an extraordinary day, short of a real adventure. A field day for a schizophrenic. "Walter Mitty," he's not. Mental instability is a concern.17. "Shadowy." A story about a man who takes refuge in the world of his imagination. Cleverly thought-provoking and philosophical ideas permeate his universe. He is not terribly practical. You don't visualize him working as a craftsman on "This Old House."18. "Love." a sad, tragic story about a girl who marries too young. The arranged marriage has fatal consequences. There should be laws.19. "The Two Brothers." The younger one works for a living and meets a nice girl in his apartment building. The older one lives with him and loafs around all day. They have their differences. One meets his reward. The other meets his destiny.20. "Mourners of Bayal." Because a boy's mother is dying and the family carts her off to the hospital, and they visit the cemetery, he is delayed from picking up his bride, per an arranged marriage. The bride's family smokes while waiting for him to arrive.21. "Sacred Keep Sakes." The story is about a reclusive wounded soldier during a new years' celebration. He behaves badly.22. "The Trench and Empty Canteens." After struggling his entire life, a man wants to live out his life in peace and quiet in a nice house on the outskirts of the city. He longs for the good life in suburbia.23. "The Wolf." A doctor's wife is lured by the "call of the wild." She could have drawn the curtains. He could have built a privacy fence. They could have called the animal control office, or the dog-catcher.24. "Portrait of a Innocent." A sculptor dies trying to complete his life's work. Posterity loses out.25. "The Discrete and Obvious Charm of the Bourgeoisie" is a story about the progress made by western civilization as we know it, from the perspective of someone who never lived it and wanted it all to just go away. The narrator is like the puppet-master at a "Punch and Judy" show. The people at the party are like stereotypical puppet-toys. Is that any way to treat your party guests?26. "Aziz Aga's Gold Fillings" is about the daughter of a dysfunctional family of misfits and other educated free-thinkers. She befriends the school bus driver.27. "Brother's Future Family." A typical family and relatives get together for the holidays. You may not always like them, but you're stuck with them.28. "Smell of Lemon Peel and Fresh Milk." A sick Russian girl endures her medical treatment in Iran. The strong will survive.29. "Hard Luck." A weak boy is raised by the owner of an opium den. He has wild dreams.30. "Night Journey." a hitch-hiker catches a ride on the oil-company bus. He appears to be a bandit on the run.31. "The Sad Brothers." Two brothers encounter and raise a big "E.T."-like bird in their basement. The creature escapes and everyone in the vicinity finds out about it. In this way, Thanksgiving might have once been celebrated in Iran.32. "Trial Offers." An intelligent, precocious young woman becomes engaged to a respectable civil servant. The have a promising future together, but she discovers that he is a chauvinistic pig, who would go to great lengths to make her life miserable. She resents this, and would return the favor double, given half a chance. They agree to a separation, then sever ties. She becomes involved with a liberal-minded professor. They experience happiness and joy. Their future together is not assured, however. They exhibit self-destructive tendencies.33. "The Long Night" is a rite of passage story about a prepubescent girl in Iran who watches her best friend grow up before her very eyes and marry.34. "Narcissus" is about a young man who sells bouquets of flowers beside a busy roadway. It's a living!35. "The Mirror" is about an old lady about to be taken away by the grim reaper. She mocks him repeatedly. She laughs at death.

Like it because Know most of it in Farsi. Translation is great and of course has room to improve. Do not like all the selections but all together is a good book.

this book was great,i did not know that there are such translation in print of Iranian short stories.i did enjoy those magical realism in particular.thanks lot to the writer and translator.

Very good collection of Iranian literature. Highly recommended. The book has works which we haven't seen in 60+ years. Must read for all lovers of Iranian literature.

Highly entertaining and well put together. Full of color and interest. These stories could be universal and should interest anyone.

I found this book very interesting. Actually I bought the book to know more about Iran people and more or less I could see better. This anthology spread from 1921 to 1991, an enough comprehensive to review Iran literature, especially in short stories, a new genre in Iran literature.

I had to read this book for an Asian and Middle Eastern History course at the University of Pennsylvania.This book is composed of many short stories like Mirza,Abji Khanom,etc.The writers are some of the best fiction writers Iran has produced.A good book is you like to read about fiction etc.This book gives you a good idea about writers in a foreign country and also about Iran.Some stories are about the secret actions of dissident Iranians as they challenge their own repressive government in order to bring democracy to their homeland.Others tell of the religious life in Iran.Overall, a good book for all people interested in History/Iran/Literature.