Tag: Bozorg Alavi

Gholam-Hossein Sa’edi: The Garbage Dump [Ashghaldouni]

Gholam-Hossein Sa’edi: The Garbage Dump [Ashghaldouni] When we turned into the next alley, I was completely irritated and angry. My anger at my father had reached boiling point and I was itching to provoke him, to make him angry and shake him to his foundations. My father was stubborn, unfair, never showed consideration for others […]

Throne of Solomon [Takht-e Abunasr] By Sadeq Hedayat

Throne of Solomon [Takht-e Abunasr] In the second year of the excavations at the Metropolitan Museum of Chicago near Shiraz, on the hill of “Takht-e Abunasr”,” scientific investigations were carried out. But apart from the cramped and acidic tombs, which often contained the bones of several people, nothing worth mentioning had been discovered except red […]

Madeline By Sadeq Hedayat

The other evening I was there, in the little parlor. Her mother and sister were also present, the mother in gray and the daughters in red, matching the crimson velvet of the sofas. I leaned my elbow on the piano and watched them. There was silence, except for the needle of the gramophone playing the […]

Twenty Four Hours in Waking and Dreaming By Samad Behrangi

Dear Reader, I did not write the story of “Waking and Dreaming” to teach you a lesson. My intention is to make you more familiar with the children of my homeland and to encourage you to think about the cure for their ailments. If I were to endeavor to document everything that happened to me […]

Manifestation (Tajalli) By Sadeq Hedayat

As dusk began to weave its shadowy carpet across the sky, Hasmik pulled the brim of her hat down to cover her eyebrows and pulled the collar of her cloak closer, as if to ward off the encroaching cold. With swift, deliberate steps, she made her way home, her mind so ensnared by confused thoughts […]

Buried Alive [Zendeh Be Goor] By Sadeq Hedayat

My breath escapes me in ragged gaspings, tears run from my eyes, a bitter taste lingers in my mouth. My head spins, my heart clenches, my body lies exhausted, beaten, limp, weak on the bed. My arms, covered in marks from the injections, bear witness to my misery. The bed reeks of sweat and the […]

Seeking Redemption [Talab-e Amorzesh] By Sadeq Hedayat

Amidst the sweltering winds that whipped up the hot dust and sand and slapped the travelers in the face, the unyielding sun scorched and melted everything in its path. The monotonous clanging of iron and brass bells could be heard, synchronized with the camels’ steps. Their drooping necks and sullen, slack expressions signaled their dissatisfaction […]

The Indian Crow By Fereshteh Molavi

I wake up in Delhi to the cawing of a crow perched on a willow branch, to the dance of light on the shadow of a dream, to the scent of a tropical morning. Spring. The awakening of spring. The elation of travel. I pull aside the cotton curtain, open the window and the quiet […]

The Behind-the-Curtain Doll By Sadeq Hedayat [Arusak Posht-e Pardeh]

The summer vacation had begun. In the corridor of the boys’ grammar school in Le Havre, the boarders left the school whistling and cheering with their suitcases in their hands. Only Mehrdad was standing still, holding his hat like a merchant whose ship had sunk, looking despairingly at his suitcase. The principal with his bald […]

The Claws By Sadeq Hedayat

When Seyyed Ahmad entered the house, he cast a suspicious glance across the courtyard, then knocked with his stick on the brown door of the room above the cistern and called softly: “Robabeh… Robabeh…!” The door opened and a pale, frightened girl came out: “Brother, is that you? Come up here.” She took her brother’s […]

The Last Day By Bahram Beyzai

As the 48-year-old Iranian writer Sadeq Hedayat makes his way to his apartment in the 18th arrondissement at 37 Rue Championnet bis on a gloomy afternoon in Paris, he meets two men who are waiting for him. They immediately inquire whether he has returned from the police station and whether he has received the necessary […]

The Gilak Man (Gilehmard): A Short Story by Bozorg Alavi

A relentless rain poured down from the sky, and the winds were so violent that they seemed to shake the earth to its foundations. Old trees lay in a melancholy embrace, their branches swaying in the storm. In the distance, the plaintive cries of a woman pierced the air, carried by the raging storm that […]

Bozorg Alavi: The Portmanteau (Chamedan)

Bozorg Alavi was a leftist writer and one of the most noted Iranian novelists of the 20th century, whose works were banned in Iran from 1953 to 1979. Alavi is known for his novel Her Eyes and collected stories The Portmanteau (Chamedan). Biography of Bozorg Alavi Born in Tehran on February 2, 1904, Bozorg Alavi […]