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| My Uncle Napoleon | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| A Comic Novel | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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"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.
For the full text of any of the following reviews, simply click on the publication's name.
- Kirkus Reviews: "An uproarious
and endearing Iranian novel... one of the most entertaining books we're
likely to see this year."
- The Atlantic Monthly: "A
giddily uproarious mixture of farce and slapstick."
- Cleveland Plain Dealer : "My
Uncle Napoleon should leave properly adjusted American readers desperate
for more of this howlingly funny -- not to mention tender, salacious
and magical -- Iranian import."
- The Washington Post: "My
Uncle Napoleon is a surprising novel, a raunchy, irreverent, hilarious
farce wrapped around a core of quiet sorrow."
- The Baltimore Sun: "It
is so surely told, so funny, true, and ultimately heart-rending, it's
absolutely clear why My Uncle Napoleon is loved in its homeland."
- Christian Science Monitor:
"Readers can gain a more balanced impression of Iran from perusing
this novel, which looks at life from the kind of humorous perspective
few Westerners may associate with the current regime in that country."
- Choice: "The farcical
plot dashes along at a rapid pace and there is never a dull stretch.
In this English version, much of the reader's enjoyment comes from the
outstanding quality of the translation."
- The Washington Times: "My
Uncle Napoleon gives the reader an amusing, satirical picture of
life among the privileged and their servants in Tehran at the beginning
of World War II."
- World Literture Review: "The translation is so sensitive to the author's tone and to the levels of language used by the characters that the Western reader, unfamiliar with Iran, needs only a minimum of help to enjoy and appreciate both the comic and serious aspects of the book."
Preface
Cast of Charcters & Map
Part One
(1) In which the narrator falls in love, and a dubious sound interrupts
one of Dear Uncle Napoleon's war stories.
(2) In which Dear Uncle Napoleon cuts off the water supply, and a family
council is held to discuss the dubious sound.
(3) In which a thief breaks into Dear Uncle Napoleon's house, and Dear
Uncle Napoleon holds a religious ceremony.
(4) In which Dustali Khan flees from his wife and takes refuge in Dear
Uncle Napoleon's house.
(5) In which relations between the narrator's father and Dear Uncle Napoleon
deteriorate further, and Dustali Khan disappears.
(6) In which Deputy Taymur Khan uses his international system to investigate
a murder.
(7) In which Asadollah Mirza declares his love, and there are more discussions
about the dubious sound.
(8) In which Dustali Khan is found, and Asadollah Mirza has two opportunities
to visit San Francisco.
(9) In which attempts are made to persuade Asadollah Mirza to leave Shir
Ali's house.
(10) In which the narrator's father apologizes to Dear Uncle Napoleon,
and uncle colonel throws a party.
Part Two
(11) In which the British invade, and Dear Uncle Napoleon decides to take
a journey.
(12) In which Dear Uncle Napoleon writes a letter to Hitler, and Asadollah
Mirza begins to teach the narrator about life.
(13) In which Dear Uncle Napoleon gets rid of a photographer, Qamar makes
an unexpected announcement, and Dustali Khan is shot.
(14) In which Dustali Khan makes a will, a shoeshine man sets out his
stall, and there are worries about uncle colonel's son, Puri.
(15) In which a bridegroom is proposed for Qamar, and the shoeshine man
is arrested.
(16) In which negotiations for Qamar's marriage proceed, and the shoeshine
man is released.
(17) In which Cadet Officer Ghiasabadi's mother and sister pay a formal
visit.
(18) In which Qamar is married, the narrator and Puri fight, and Dear
Uncle's cellars are flooded.
(19) In which the narrator's father throws a party for Qamar and her husband.
Part Three
(20) In which it its proposed that Puri be given a test, and Mash Qasem
visits the narrator's school.
(21) In which Akhtar gives Puri his test, the narrator takes a firm decision,
and Dear Uncle Napoleon's health deteriorates.
(22) In which Dear Uncle Napoleon accuses Mash Qasem of treachery, and
Asadollah Mirza and the narrator's father decide a plan.
(23) In which Dear Uncle Napoleon receives a visitor.
(24) In which Dustali Khan and his son-in-law lay their differences before
Dear Uncle Napoleon, revelations are made, and the narrator's prospects
look bleak.
(25) In which Dear Uncle Napoleon receives more visitors and is taken
to the hospital, and Asadollah Mirza has a long chat with the narrator.
Conclusion
In which everyone's fate is summarized
One hot summer day, to be precise, one Friday the thirteenth of August,
at about a quarter to three in the afternoon, I fell in love. The bitterness
and longing I've been through since have often made me wonder whether
if it had been the twelfth or the fourteenth of August things would have
turned out differently.
That day, as on every day, they had compelled us-meaning me and my sister-by
force and threats and a few golden promises for the evening to go into
the cellar in order to sleep. In the savage heat of Tehran an afternoon
siesta was compulsory for all the children. But on that day, as on every
other afternoon, we were just waiting for my father to fall asleep so
that we could go into the yard to play. When my father's snores became
audible I stuck my head out from under the coverlet and glanced at the
clock on the wall. It was half past two in the afternoon. In waiting for
my father to go off, my poor little sister had fallen asleep herself.
I'd no choice but to leave her and I tiptoed out alone.
Layli, my uncle's daughter, and her little brother had been waiting in
the main garden for us for half an hour. Our two houses had been built
within one big enclosure and there was no wall between them. As on every
day, we settled down quietly to our games and conversation in the shade
of a big walnut tree. And then I happened to catch Layli's eye. A pair
of wide black eyes looked back at me. I couldn't tear my gaze away from
hers. I've no idea how long we'd been staring at each other when suddenly
my mother appeared standing over us with a little multi-thonged whip in
her hand. Layli and her brother ran off to their house and my mother drove
me into the cellar and under the coverlet, threatening me as she did so.
Before my head was completely hidden under the coverlet I looked across
at the clock on the wall; it was ten to three in the afternoon. Before
she in turn put her head under the coverlet my mother said, "Thank
God your uncle didn't wake up, because if he had, he'd have torn you all
to pieces."
My mother was right. Dear Uncle (as we called him) was very particular
about the orders he gave. He'd given an order that before five o'clock
in the afternoon the children weren't so much as to breathe. Within the
four walls of that garden it wasn't only we children who had learned what
not sleeping in the afternoon and making a noise during Dear Uncle's siesta
meant; the crows and pigeons appeared in the garden much less often because
Dear Uncle had taken a hunting rifle to them a few times and effected
a general slaughter. The street vendors of our area didn't go through
our street, which was named after Dear Uncle, till five o'clock, because
three or four times the man who came by on his donkey selling melons and
onions had been slapped by Dear Uncle.
But that day my brain was working overtime and the name of Dear Uncle
didn't put me in mind of his rages and bad temper. I couldn't get free
of the memory of Layli's eyes and of her gaze even for a moment, and no
matter how much I tossed and turned and how much I tried to think of something
else, I saw her black eyes, brighter than if she were really there in
front of me.
That night, underneath the mosquito net, Layli's eyes came after me once
more. I hadn't seen her again that evening, but her eyes and her beguiling
gaze were there.
I don't know how much time passed. Suddenly a weird thought seized my
whole brain, "God forbid, I've fallen in love with Layli!"
Click here to continue reading chapter
IRAJ PEZESHKZAD was born in Tehran in 1928, and educated in Iran and France where he received his degree in Law. He served as a judge in the Iranian Judiciary for five years prior to joining the Iranian Foreign Service. He began writing in the early 1950s by translating the works of Voltaire and Molière into Persian and by writing short stories for magazines. His novels include Haji Mam-ja'far in Paris, and Mashalah Khan in the Court of Haroun al-Rashid. He has also written several plays and various articles on the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1905, the French Revolution, and the Russian Revolution. He is currently working as a journalist.
Translator DICK DAVIS was born to English and Italian parents in 1945 and educated at King's College, Cambridge (B.A. and M.A. in English Literature). In 1970 while pursuing a career in poetry and literature and teaching in Greece he visited a friend in Iran. While there, he fell ill and was nursed to health by a Persian woman, whom he eventually married. Davis fell in love with the country as well, and stayed for eight years, learning Persian and teaching at the University of Tehran. After the revolution in 1979 the Davis family returned to England where he pursued his love of the Persian language, earning his Ph.D. in Medieval Persian Literature from the University of Manchester.
Since then, he has emerged as the foremost translator of Persian as well as having published numerous volumes of his own poetry to critical acclaim, including: Touchwood, A New Kind of Love, Devices and Desires, and Covenant. He is currently professor of Persian at Ohio State University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His other translations from Persian include The Lion and the Throne: Stories from the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi (Mage, 1997), Borrowed Ware (Mage, 1997), My Uncle Napoleon (Mage, 1996), The Legend of Seyavash (Penguin Classics, 1992), and with Afkham Darbandi, The Conference of the Birds (Penguin Classics, 1984).
The following represent only those books currently in print. If there is a title you feel we have overlooked. please let us know.
The Persian edition of this book is available in paperback from Iranbooks for $19. Also available in Persian is Asemun Rismun, a collection of satirical essays written under the pseudonym of A. P. Ashena between the 1955-1960. The author has added a new introduction; essays which were not included in the original printing and an index of names to this revised edition.
Using a Persian Novel in a Sociology Class is an excellent essay by Ali Akbar Mahdi. Originally published in the Winter 1996-97 issue of The Persian Book Review, the article discusses how My Uncle Napoleon can be used to examining a number of aspects of Persian culture and modern history.
The excellent web magazine The Iranian published an exclusive interview with Iraj Pezeshkzad in its Febuary 1997 issue. They also have posted paraphrased remarks on satire by Iraj Pezeshkzad made during a presentation at UC- Berkely in 1997.
If Dear Uncle Napoleon were alive today, we have no doubt he would be a frequent vistitor to the web magazine The Napoleon Series, which is sponsored by the International Napoleon Society. He might also visit the bi-lingual Napoleon site, but it doesn't seem as in-depth as the other, although there is a lot of French material on it.
Those interested in satire may be intersted in Satire: A Quarterly Journal of Contempory Satire. The Onion, is a very popular web site well known for its satirical take on issues of the day.
©Copyright Mage Publishers 1994-2003
