There is an English translation of this book and you should absolutely read it!!! This is a very famous book in Iran but I had never read it... what'sThere is an English translation of this book and you should absolutely read it!!! This is a very famous book in Iran but I had never read it... what's more, there's an old TV series based on that which I just watched about a couple of years ago. The story is very catchy: a family struggle with a dying aristocracy on the one hand and an emerging urban middle class on the other, intertwined with a love story narrated almost entirely through eavesdropping: cherry on the cake is the conspiracy theory which leads to insanity. It was funny, subtle, and catchy... super loved it!
فکر میکنم نسبت به خیلی از ایرانیها این کتاب را دیر خواندم و عجیبتر اینکه تا همین دو سال پیش سریال را هم ندیده بودم و اصلا ماجرا را نمیدانستم. داستان عجیبیست. رقابتهای فامیلی بر سر اصل و نسب و طبقات اجتماعی، از یک طرف اشرافیتِ محتضر و از طرفی دیگر طبقهی متوسط در حال نمو، در هم تنیده با یک ماجرای عشقی و روایتی که اساسا بر پایهی گوش ایستادن و استراق سمع پیش میرود و البته: تئوری توطئه که نهایتا به جنون میانجامد. هم گیرا بود و هم خندهدار و هم پر از نکات ظریف و دقیق. خیلی دوستش داشتم
Characters: 3 Plot: 3 Philosophization: 2 Historicization: 4 Narration: far beyond 5 Another book that I used to refuse to read because everybody else was Characters: 3 Plot: 3 Philosophization: 2 Historicization: 4 Narration: far beyond 5 Another book that I used to refuse to read because everybody else was just hyping about it... and interestingly I just finished reading it and marveled over the uncanny resemblance of my own life -the recent series of events- with this story! I didn't like how everything was thoroughly explained, every point made to the end, the whole thing about kitsch, march, categories that the writer is presenting as universal and everlasting but then they're simply the categories that he is making up based on the characters that he himself has created for us. What I really loved about it though was actually the way narrator moved along the timeline, from one person to another, offering different perspectives from different characters, disrupting the linearity of the story without completely destroying it. The worst part in my opinion was the way it wove philosophy into the everyday stuff which just sounded really tacky, basically namedropping! I do wanna read it again tho! I also would really like to teach this in a literature class to focus on the narrator's work but I know none of the classes I teach will have room for a European novel from the 80s that deals with love, sex and authoritarianism, and a queer dog that falls in love with a pig!...more
There's not much to say about this as a lot has been said... I am starting a new shelf and calling it "belated" for all the books that I should have rThere's not much to say about this as a lot has been said... I am starting a new shelf and calling it "belated" for all the books that I should have read a long time ago but I am catching up with them now. This is probably the first one. The good thing of letting this one wait for all these years was that I read it in French, so props to that at least!...more
Profound reflection on yearning to want to know about the love life of a significant other to whom one is no longer significant and the attempt to sitProfound reflection on yearning to want to know about the love life of a significant other to whom one is no longer significant and the attempt to situate oneself in a new life once this significance has been lost. The length that she goes to in order to find information about that other woman is both very creative and masterfully written. Her constant movement from gazing at that significant other, to seeking information on the new lover, to introspection is exquisitely portrayed. I'm so glad I"m reading Ernaux's work these days. They also serve very much as a break from my regular readings which is something that I haven't had the chance to do for a very long time!...more
My grandma is dealing with a quasi-dementia and although I’m both around to see her unraveling, my mom does mention things. Reading this book in such My grandma is dealing with a quasi-dementia and although I’m both around to see her unraveling, my mom does mention things. Reading this book in such a condition, and also having read a number of essays on disease recently is a new experience. Also Annie Ernaux is a new author whose writing I have been meaning to read for a while now and she does a very convincing job in portraying the symptoms of a disease that is insidious and makes rapid advancement with very strong repercussions… human body and its unbelievable feebleness…...more
The writing is beautiful but I cannot figure out why I need to read the account of a magistrate that has been working for thirty years at the outpostsThe writing is beautiful but I cannot figure out why I need to read the account of a magistrate that has been working for thirty years at the outposts of the empire, taking sexual advantage of local women, and suddenly coming to an epiphany about the inherent violence and cruelty of not the empire, but a colonel who has been sent over from the capital to oversee an imminent attack by the natives. At the end of the day, he sounds very convinced that had the colonel - unfamiliar with the natives - not been deployed, things would have developed in a different way... Even so, it did throw me back to a particular personal experience that I realized I have not really reckoned with and now I think I really need to go back to it....more
Narrativa eccellente con le interruzioni continue che la rendono molto accattivante. Storia di un giornalista cattolico di Lisbona che è fissato sulleNarrativa eccellente con le interruzioni continue che la rendono molto accattivante. Storia di un giornalista cattolico di Lisbona che è fissato sulle memorie e guarda al passato in continuazione però si sente spodestato mentre la realtà sociale e politica al suo intorno cambia rapidamente. Per cui inizia a guardare verso il futuro. Curiosamente però l'intera narrativa è una iniziativa che riguarda il passato. Piacere assoluto!...more
Brilliantly written, somehow reminiscent of how Foucault starts Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason, diving into the Brilliantly written, somehow reminiscent of how Foucault starts Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason, diving into the social history of some of most ravaging diseases. Sontag does that with TB, and then cancer, and traces the metaphorical presence of these diseases in our daily language and how our understanding of those diseases is determined by our metaphorical uses of them. She also digs into how confront those diseases with the important elements of the dominant discourse; In her case, she refers to the use of military metaphors - given the importance of the military discourse throughout the 70s over the Vietnam War and the various military operations in Latin America - when we discuss cancer!...more
I really liked this but there is a sheer gap between the protagonist’s character and the subtlety that’s put into her in contrast to all the kthers thI really liked this but there is a sheer gap between the protagonist’s character and the subtlety that’s put into her in contrast to all the kthers that are hollow and irrelevant. I liked how language played a very twisted role of distancing the medical doctor and the philosophy doctor from each other. I think I haven’t read enough about disease in general!...more
Very brief but unbelievably profound and holistic! It is jarring to see a cancer patient being so much in control of her critical faculty to be able tVery brief but unbelievably profound and holistic! It is jarring to see a cancer patient being so much in control of her critical faculty to be able to make so much sense of the disease that is pushing her towards her end. Audre Lorde offers profound insights into the imagery around breast cancer, how women's coping with it is conditioned and informed by the [necessarily heteronormative] patriarchal order, and how the center of a breast cancer patient is the gaze that she has to pander to, mostly [but not only] through prosthesis. She also does a brilliant job in portraying the lesbian community, its recently obtained visibility in the aftermath of Stonewall, and its healing role in helping her cope with the consequences of mastectomy. Another thing she takes a stab at is the medical industry, Cancer Inc., as she calls it and the profit that is made through cancer, in the 1970s, so do your math now! Can't recommend this enough and I am definitely going back to it again and again....more
Truly loved it. The language is so playful, the delivery is very cinematic, and the story is so simple and so ornate and catchy! Super recommended! ThTruly loved it. The language is so playful, the delivery is very cinematic, and the story is so simple and so ornate and catchy! Super recommended! The ending reminded me of the movie "Viridiana!"...more
This was the book that I wanted to read for a long time and the truth about it is that few parts of it are good, some parts are redundant but some of This was the book that I wanted to read for a long time and the truth about it is that few parts of it are good, some parts are redundant but some of it is really cringeworthy and I did not expect this level of adhesion to patriarchy and heteronormativity from a Frankfurt School thinker. The way he frames love as a bond between a man and woman and rules homosexuality out as a sort of deviation is just appalling. At some point, it grapples with some Freudian notions and he does a good job at rebuilding some of those misconceptions but overall, I think the book is super outdated!...more
Harrowing story of a woman from Ghana married off to an abusive husband who loves someone else and pulls out an intercontinental scheme to be with thaHarrowing story of a woman from Ghana married off to an abusive husband who loves someone else and pulls out an intercontinental scheme to be with that person. It's a very painful reading and contains vivid descriptions of sexual and domestic violence. Definitely worth reading though! The story starts at the end and then goes back to the beginning and I definitely think it could have been a full-fledged novel than a short novella....more
A woman is writing a letter to a friend of hers who is going to visit her. The letter starts on the day that her husband dies and she has to deal withA woman is writing a letter to a friend of hers who is going to visit her. The letter starts on the day that her husband dies and she has to deal with her in-laws and her very young co-wife. Once the funeral and ceremonies are over, she has to face the suitors, deal with the children, and come to terms with the reflections over her husband's second marriage and why he decided to abandon her and the children after she married a second wife. The writing contains a fair amount of scrutiny of women's condition in the independent Senegal and how gender inequalities continue to persist despite what everybody believes as social advancements. Ramatoulaye, the narrator, thinks a lot about how women's status in society is subject to oppression by various institutions and her solution to these problems is the improvement of families.
Reading is straightforward and the AWS series has a very good translation. I checked the original French version alongside the English one that I was reading and the quality is very good....more
Beautiful! In a very early modern style, the story is a man reading a dead man's diary who worked as a houseboy for a French priest and then a coloniaBeautiful! In a very early modern style, the story is a man reading a dead man's diary who worked as a houseboy for a French priest and then a colonial officer. He first starts to believe in the idea of civilization promoted by the White man but then he comes to the bitter understanding that what the White man professes is not intended for the Black man. The writing is beautiful and I am sure I am gonna read it again in French. It has a marvelous insight into work and the way work is regarded through the lens of colonialism and race. Wonderful read!...more
This is a huge stab at AIDS crisis and homosexuality, American exceptionalism and most importantly American triumphalism as the Cold War neared its enThis is a huge stab at AIDS crisis and homosexuality, American exceptionalism and most importantly American triumphalism as the Cold War neared its end, medical-industrial complex, rightwing takeover of Washington, religious fundamentalism, and so much more, but the fact that there is so much to it does not come at the expense of depth because it is brilliantly written. I read it once and I am sure I am gonna read it again, stream the existing versions, and go to watch a performance time and money permitting. Longer review to come!...more
It's a particular book... it's actually a selection of essays, themed most vaguely around ethnography but they can pretty much be read by any order. SIt's a particular book... it's actually a selection of essays, themed most vaguely around ethnography but they can pretty much be read by any order. Some of them are historical, some are anthropological, one is a series of postcards and one is a series of interviewers with the Mashpee community in Massachusetts; some depart from literature and go into anthropology. The essays that I most liked were the ones about Orientalism and Aime Cesaire. Clifford believes that ethnography as a discipline changed its shape over the past one hundred years with the birth of professional ethnographers. However, these professionals do not manage to get a good grasp of cultures of other lands as their depictions are often holistic and what they do is essentially pigeonholing their observations. The book also serves a good example of different trends in ethnography and modern anthropology....more
روایت فقر و بدبختی مردم روستا بدون کمترین پرداختِ ممکن. داستانها جالبند اما با وجود کوتاهیشان، این مینیمالیسمِ ناپرداخته کمی خواندن را سخت میکند. تروایت فقر و بدبختی مردم روستا بدون کمترین پرداختِ ممکن. داستانها جالبند اما با وجود کوتاهیشان، این مینیمالیسمِ ناپرداخته کمی خواندن را سخت میکند. تلخِ ماجرا اینجاست که اگر امروز به مردم آن قریهها سر بزنیم وضعشان همانست که بود...more
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