Several new titles are out in bookstores this week. Iran newspaper has focused on some of the outstanding literary works:
‘Snow and Hot Tin Roof’ is a collection of poems by Mohammad-Hadi Karimi released by Negah publishing house. Karimi’s poems are tinged with shadows of thought, but lack a visual leitmotif in their reach. The poems speak plainly and without sophistication, yet in a convincing style to their readers.
‘Years Gone By’, is another poetry collection by Behzad Mousaee, a northern poet, published by Bootimar. Mousaee, who died in a car crash this year, gives voice to a “generational grievance” in his work, which nonetheless is brimming with compassion and affection. His poems seem to follow a pattern although he never arranged them in any order and as one reads them their underlying post-modern features come to the surface.
‘There’s a Long Way for Us to Become Them’ is a series of comic poems by Akbar Eksir, which was brought out this past week by Morvarid publishing company. Eksir is known to be a “poet who suffers” and his verse is steeped in dark humor. His work, an expose of the corrupt modern world hypocrisy elicits sarcastic laughter from his readers.
Poetry Collection
Another poetry collection that hit the book shelves this week, is ‘Ashegh Mashegh’ (Lover, Lover), composed by Ali Abdolrezaee, who along with other fellow poets - breathed new life into the present day moribund poetry by starting a new movement. His verse breaks many established moulds by breaking away from long-held aesthetic trends present in Persian classic and modern poetry.
The new fiction titles cover a wide spectrum of genres: ‘Stories and Story Writing’ is a collection of 21 short stories by Jamal Mirsadeghi, published by Nillofar. The book also intends to act as a guide to fiction writers by dividing them into two groups: namely, those in general, mainstream writing and those who distinguish themselves by writing in a unique style. Mirsadeghi claims that the former group of writers focus on meaning and cohesiveness of the plot, while the latter put emphasis on the structure and integrity. He considers great figures like Balzac, Dickens, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky as belonging to the first category, while others like Flaubert, Joyce, and Proust have allegiance to the second category.
Another book that was well-received by fiction fans is ‘The Bench and the Sea’ by Alaleh Soleimani, who first became famous with her novel ‘Cold Fireplace.’ This most-recent novel is a portrait of a young woman as a student who makes it to college but she “is in for a change” after meeting a young man who has recently returned from the US.
