My Uncle Napoleon (Audible Audio Edition) Iraj Pezeshkzad Moti Margolin Dick Davis Dick Davis translator afterword Mage Publishers Inc Books
Download As PDF : My Uncle Napoleon (Audible Audio Edition) Iraj Pezeshkzad Moti Margolin Dick Davis Dick Davis translator afterword Mage Publishers Inc Books
"The existence in Persian literature of a full-scale, abundantly inventive comic novel that involves a gallery of varied and highly memorable characters, not to mention scenes of hilarious farcical mayhem, may come as a surprise to a Western audience used to associating Iran with all that is in their eyes dour, dire and dreadful." (From the Preface)
Set in a garden in Tehran in the early 1940s, where three families live under the tyranny of a paranoid patriarch, My Uncle Napoleon is a rich, comic and brilliantly on-target send-up of Iranian society. The novel is, at its core, a love story. But the young narrator's delicate and pure love for his cousin Layli is constantly jeopardized by an unforgettable cast of family members and the hilarious mayhem of their intrigues and machinations. It is also a social satire, a lampooning of the widespread Iranian belief that foreigners (particularly the British) are responsible for events that occurs in Iran. But most of all it is a very enjoyable, often side-splitting read that you wish did not have to end. First published in Iran in the early 1970s, the novel became an all-time best-seller. In 1976 it was turned into a television series and immediately captured the imagination of the whole nation-its story became a cultural reference point and its characters national icons. Dick Davis' superb English translation has not only captured the uproarious humor of the original but has also caught the delicate, underlying vibrancy of the Persian.
My Uncle Napoleon (Audible Audio Edition) Iraj Pezeshkzad Moti Margolin Dick Davis Dick Davis translator afterword Mage Publishers Inc Books
What a wonderful book this is! Funny and heart-warming, indeed. On page one a 13-year-old boy falls in love with the beautiful black eyes of his cousin, and he tells the rest of the story.The characters are not "realistic." Heaven forfend! They are loving and comic exaggerations of real Persians, who could never be mistaken for (say) Japanese or Americans. For one obvious thing, there is the huge importance of the Very Extended Family, a simple fact of Persian life. In fact, some thinker once commented that Persians are still living a "tribal" life behind the walls of their homes. Is that true? Well, when I was in Iran, I had a best friend who, over a period of two years, introduced me to about 200 members of his family, and to precisely one unrelated friend! If I had to try to reciprocate as an American, I'd be stuck after the first four or five members of my immediate family...
The stuff about "England being responsible for everything" really hits home, and is probably the reason the book became a runaway hit in Persia itself. I hope everyone noticed that during the recent anti-government riots in Persia, the crazed mullahs immediately arrested eight staff at the British Embassy! The loony but lovable old character, "Uncle Napoleon" goes so far as to believe that all of his failures in life happened because of a British Plot. And one reason he is the universe's biggest fan of Napoleon Bonaparte is (guess why!)....because Napoleon was a great enemy of England!
England! Perfidious Albion! That sceptred isle of mad plotters, that counterfeit jewel set in a sea of treachery.... Well, you get the idea.
For me, the most important extra-literary point of this book is that it shows us The Real Iran, a very human place where people fall in love, get married, write poems, and fall into insane rivalries. Neither the Iran of the Shah, nor the Iran of Khomeini: it has existed for thousands of years, and right now (perhaps) waits to be reborn.
By the way, the title for this review, "But what if the murder victim refuses to come along?" points out the Monty Python in this book. A man runs away --- vanishes --- and some family member decides to accuse another family member of killing him. The police are called, and the numskull detective (following his "international method of surprise attack") immediately refers to the missing man as "the murder victim." He does it so insistently that others pick up his habit --- and then the missing man turns up alive. They call the detective, who instructs them to show up the next morning with "the murder victim." They answer, "But what if the murder victim refuses to come along?" Said totally dead-pan, of course! :-) :-)
I would read this book along with Taheri's "The Persian Night" to try to get a grasp on the immensity of the tragedy. That is, try to imagine ANY of the characters in "My Uncle Napoleon" falling for the crazy party line of the mullahs in any real way. You can imagine them PRETENDING to do so, if it will help them steal a march on a family rival, but REALLY?
As they used to sing on the mountain, "Man zan-e mullah ne misham! Chera ne mishid?" ("I will never consent to be the wife of a mullah," sings the soloist. "Why not?" sings the raucous chorus. The rest can be supplied for you by a Persian friend.... :-) )
By the way, I believe the complete Persian TV series has shown up on YouTube. No subtitles that I've seen yet, alas. Search for "Daie Jan Napelon."
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My Uncle Napoleon (Audible Audio Edition) Iraj Pezeshkzad Moti Margolin Dick Davis Dick Davis translator afterword Mage Publishers Inc Books Reviews
This is an amazing book , criticizing aristocracy in the most beautiful way.
I still have about 200 more pages to read but so far I have enjoyed every bit of the story. Wonderful translation. Hihgly recommend reading this book to any book lover with a progressive mind!
"My uncle Napoleon" is a very funny book that opens the inner world of the traditional Iranian culture to the reader.
The book is full of scandals and follies and grotesque situation. Along with the family saga it reveals a beautiful love story between the narrator boy and his cousin girl.
The book flows without a dull moment. It is an easy and fun book to read.
I saw the original TV series in Iran and subsequently read the book in original Persian. Needless to say, I enjoyed them both very much. I came across this book while browsing , immediately ordered it and finished reading it within days of its arrival. The translator has done a great job in translating this book and conveying the little Persian jokes and situations which make this book a masterpiece in Persian. I felt that for the most part (90%) the original LAUGH FACTOR had successfully been translated. Enjoy it.
Iranian story teller with a great sense of humor and empathy. I was reading it during a plane trip and was giggling loudly, drawing much attention from the fellow passenger. A perfect farcical tale from an Iranian author.
Americans have become so accustomed to seeing televised images of dour Ayatollahs and grim-faced Iranian demonstrators shouting "Death to the Great Satan" that we have forgotten that Iran is also the land of Omar Khayyam. Pezeshkzad and his characters have more in common with the 12th century poet than the religious revolutionaries who overthrew the Shah would like, and the readers will give thanks with laughter.
Early in World War II, the unnamed 15-year-old narrator becomes infatuated with his first cousin Layli, the daughter of the narrator's uncle, derisively nicknamed Napoleon for constantly voicing admiration for the French general. At a family gathering, the narrator's father vents annoyance with Uncle Napoleon's unending inflation of his military record (Uncle Napoleon's four-man gendarmerie squad over the years had been transformed into dozens of army battalions thwarting the plans of British imperialism). For his father's offense, the narrator is banned from seeing his beloved Layli, who Uncle Napoleon betrothes to the narrator's horse-faced cousin Puri. The narrator turns to his cousin Asadollah, a bon vivant and womanizer extraordinaire, for advice in stopping the wedding and winning Layli. The action builds to a climax when the British occupy Tehran.
The results . . . well, I won't give it away. But if you like laugh-out-loud farce mixed with sharp-eyed satire, you owe it to yourself to read this book. It belongs on a very short list of comic masterpieces of world literature
A story which entices you in and you can't help reading through to the conclusion. Some real unexpected surprises. It's as if you are viewing real events through a window in the privacy of your own home. I can imagine there are families like this in Iranian. It has romance, comedy, and arguments in a pot boiler of a story.
The narrator, a 13-year-old boy falls in love with his first cousin. Unfortunately, there are many obstacles in his path, especially his father's prickly relationship with his wife's brother, Uncle Napoleon. Uncle suffers from his own importance and imagines himself like Napoleon.
It's the funnest story I've read in a long time.
What a wonderful book this is! Funny and heart-warming, indeed. On page one a 13-year-old boy falls in love with the beautiful black eyes of his cousin, and he tells the rest of the story.
The characters are not "realistic." Heaven forfend! They are loving and comic exaggerations of real Persians, who could never be mistaken for (say) Japanese or Americans. For one obvious thing, there is the huge importance of the Very Extended Family, a simple fact of Persian life. In fact, some thinker once commented that Persians are still living a "tribal" life behind the walls of their homes. Is that true? Well, when I was in Iran, I had a best friend who, over a period of two years, introduced me to about 200 members of his family, and to precisely one unrelated friend! If I had to try to reciprocate as an American, I'd be stuck after the first four or five members of my immediate family...
The stuff about "England being responsible for everything" really hits home, and is probably the reason the book became a runaway hit in Persia itself. I hope everyone noticed that during the recent anti-government riots in Persia, the crazed mullahs immediately arrested eight staff at the British Embassy! The loony but lovable old character, "Uncle Napoleon" goes so far as to believe that all of his failures in life happened because of a British Plot. And one reason he is the universe's biggest fan of Napoleon Bonaparte is (guess why!)....because Napoleon was a great enemy of England!
England! Perfidious Albion! That sceptred isle of mad plotters, that counterfeit jewel set in a sea of treachery.... Well, you get the idea.
For me, the most important extra-literary point of this book is that it shows us The Real Iran, a very human place where people fall in love, get married, write poems, and fall into insane rivalries. Neither the Iran of the Shah, nor the Iran of Khomeini it has existed for thousands of years, and right now (perhaps) waits to be reborn.
By the way, the title for this review, "But what if the murder victim refuses to come along?" points out the Monty Python in this book. A man runs away --- vanishes --- and some family member decides to accuse another family member of killing him. The police are called, and the numskull detective (following his "international method of surprise attack") immediately refers to the missing man as "the murder victim." He does it so insistently that others pick up his habit --- and then the missing man turns up alive. They call the detective, who instructs them to show up the next morning with "the murder victim." They answer, "But what if the murder victim refuses to come along?" Said totally dead-pan, of course! -) -)
I would read this book along with Taheri's "The Persian Night" to try to get a grasp on the immensity of the tragedy. That is, try to imagine ANY of the characters in "My Uncle Napoleon" falling for the crazy party line of the mullahs in any real way. You can imagine them PRETENDING to do so, if it will help them steal a march on a family rival, but REALLY?
As they used to sing on the mountain, "Man zan-e mullah ne misham! Chera ne mishid?" ("I will never consent to be the wife of a mullah," sings the soloist. "Why not?" sings the raucous chorus. The rest can be supplied for you by a Persian friend.... -) )
By the way, I believe the complete Persian TV series has shown up on YouTube. No subtitles that I've seen yet, alas. Search for "Daie Jan Napelon."
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