The Iranian Features
September 11-15, 2000 / Shahrivar 21-25, 1379
Today
* Epic:
Fathers against sons
* Also:
Introduction...
Recent
* Fiction:
The child of bazaar
* Fiction:
Karin
* Poetry:
Never to be called mom
* Fish:
Sag mahi
* United
Nations: New world order
* Marriage:
Soaal-e bozorg
* Iran:
Welcome home?
* Poetry:
Foroushandeh
* Cover
story: Last tear
* Iran:
Hidden beauty
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Friday
September 15, 2000
Epic
Fathers against sons
In the Shahnameh, shahs are almost always on the wrong
September 15, 2000
The Iranian
Excerpt from Fathers and Sons: Stories from the Shahnameh of
Ferdowsi, Vol II, translated by Dick Davis (2000, Mage Publishers).
One day at cockcrow Tus, Giv, and a number of other knights rode out
from their king's court; taking along cheetahs and hawks, they set off
for the plain of Daghui to hunt for wild asses. After they'd brought down
a great quantity of game, enough for forty days, they saw that the land
before them was black with Turkish tents. In the distance, close to the
border between the Persian and Turkish peoples, a thicket was visible,
and Tus and Giv, followed by a few others, rode over to it. To their astonishment,
they discovered a beautiful young woman hiding there, and Tus said to her,
"How is it a girl as radiant as the moon is in this thicket?"
She answered, "Last night my father beat me; he came back drunk from
a feast and, as soon as he saw me, he drew a dagger and began shouting
that he would cut my head off, and so I fled from our home." >>>
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Also:
Excerpt from the introduction to Fathers and Sons: Stories from
the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, Vol II, translated by Dick Davis (2000, Mage
Publishers).
In elaborating this concern Ferdowsi tends to present what is basically
the same situation (a king does or demands something which his champion
considers to be unethical or otherwise undesirable) and then offers different
solutions or outcomes to the problem. The champion may reluctantly acquiesce,
or he may refuse to have anything to do with the matter, or he may try
to dissuade his king, or even actively oppose him, or he may vacillate
between some or all of these reactions. It is as if Ferdowsi is constantly
probing at the problem, but is unable to come up with a one-answer-fits-all
solution, so that each individual case must be lived through and experienced
according to its particular circumstances. What remains fairly constant
(and there is only one king treated in Fathers and Sons of whom this is
not true) is that the king is virtually always in the wrong in these arguments,
and that we, the poem's audience, are more or less unequivocally invited
to be on the side of the champion rather than his monarch >>>
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Thursday
September 14, 2000
Fiction
The child of bazaar
Short story
By Reza Ordoubadian
September 14, 2000
The Iranian
It was getting late, and his father had already decided he must work
for his keeps. Most boys his age were already working, earning money for
their families, but Abby was his mother's boy and had an easy childhood.
Slight of body, his honey-green eyes sparkled with life and abundant energy,
ready for any mischief - or, serious work as his father required. Two generations
of trading and a long history of tribal blood had hardened the men into
starting work early and earning money for the collective good of the extended
family >>>
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Fiction
By Namdar Nasser
September 14, 2000
The Iranian
A short story from "Khaaneh siaah ast" (The House is Black)
>>>
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Poetry
Never to be called mom
By Sheema Kalbasi
September 14, 2000
The Iranian
One day,
my eyes
were looking deep
into the blue sea
of my heart,
a monster of salty tears
rose from the waves,
I stopped laughing
>>>
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Wednesday
September 6, 2000
Fish
Sag mahi
The theology of caviar
By Guive Mirfendereski
September 13, 2000
The Iranian
One hot summer afternoon in New Delhi, in the late 1950s, I hurried
into the pantry and opened the door to the freezer looking for ice cubes,
but found instead never-before-seen cylindrical containers, each wrapped
in white paper and secured by a piece of string bearing a small silvery
seal. "What are these," I inquired of a nearby attendant. "Caviar,
for tonight's cocktail reception," he replied. When I asked if it
was eatable, he said that it was and urged me to come around later when
he would be preparing the servings for the party and taste some >>>
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United Nations
New world order
Globalization and its narratives
By Majid Tehranian
September 13, 2000
The Iranian
We are the stories we tell. We shape our stories, and our stories shape
us. The current world trend toward "globalization" is obvious
enough, but few can agree on what it means. Globalization as a concept
has paraded in so many different narratives that it tends to be more confusing
than enlightening. The State of the World Forum, held on September 4-10
in New York concurrently with the UN Millennium Summit of world leaders,
provided a platform for the competing voices. Meeting annually since 1995
under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Forum provides an alternative
talking shop to UN. This year, government, business, and civil society
voices each told a different story about globalization >>>
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Marriage
By Mohandes
September 13, 2000
The Iranian
>>>
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Tuesday
September 12, 2000
Iran
Welcome home?
Where is home, really?
By Najmeh Fakhraie
September 12, 2000
The Iranian
Look out the window. That must have been a beautiful tree there long
ago. Grandfather would have greatly cherished it. Now tilt your head. You
can still make out the road he would have walked on each and every day.
The road which my father would have crossed coming home from school. It
must have been a great house once. All that's left now are two walls. How
they still stand is a mystery.
The only cruelty of war which I've learned to hate is the cries and
screams of the people who know that all has come to an end. No one ever
grieves for the homes in which those people spent their lives. The homes
that sheltered them and kept them safe from all that's out there. And then
suddenly, in an instant they fall to the ground taking everything with
them >>>
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Poetry
By A. Abbas
September 12, 2000
The Iranian
>>>
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Monday
September 11, 2000
Cover story
Last tear
At Ahmad Shamlou's funeral
Photographs by Nader Davoodi
September 11, 2000
The Iranian
On July 27, thousands took part in Ahmad Shamlou's funeral. It reminded
me of a line from one of his poems: "... aakharin ashk-e man, nokhostin
labkhandam boud." (My last tear was my first smile.) >>>
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Iran
Hidden beauty
I want to start my day with a small glass of tea
By Minou
September 11, 2000
The Iranian
Iran answers many things for me. It surprised me that it gave me an
almost instant sense of belonging. I feel more at home there than I do
in America. The absence of unlimited consumerism, the bowls of fruit instead
of chips, the discussions between family and friends long into the night
instead of being glued to the television remind me of the daily routines
on my family's farm in New Zealand. I find that simplicity comforting and
nourishing.
I confess to an initial apprehension. Is there a Western wife of an
Iranian man anywhere who hasn't been given dire warnings by her so-called
friends and had that awful piece of trash "Not Without My Daughter"
rammed down her throat until she can't help wondering if all the scaremongers
are right? >>>
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