From memoirs and history to verse and fiction, the best writing about Iran has a uniquely poetic touch
Iran is an ancient country with a complex people, among them some of the greatest poets who ever lived. Sadly, the Iranian novel has yet to reach the popularity of the country’s poetry. This is perhaps because there is something enigmatic about how Persian prose is written, often using surrealism and magical realism to mimic the playfulness in its poetry. No matter what Iranians do, even if they write historical textbooks, it seems they can never shed the poetic touch.
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Aria by Nazanine Hozar is published by Viking in the UK and Pantheon in the US. To order a copy, go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p on orders over £15.
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