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| AGRICULTURE IN QAJAR IRAN [Willem Floor] Agriculture was the mainstay of Iran's economy in the nineteenth century, yet little is known about it. Historians have rarely taken that important reality into account when writing on the economic or social history of that period, and until now there have been no comprehensive studies of Iranian agriculture. Now, in Agriculture in Qajar Iran, renowned scholar Willem Floor has compiled an all-encompassing analysis of nineteenth-century Iranian agriculture based on extensive research into previously untapped Persian and European archives. Floor presents farming in Iran from the ground up and in its every dimension. His investigation covers farming methods like irrigation and seeding, the raising of livestock, and the range of crops cultivated, from wheat, barley, and rice, to the more notorious cash crops of tobacco and opium. Floor also delves into methods of forestry and fishing, subjects about which very little is known and even less has been written, until now. Agriculture in Qajar Iran traces the commercialisation of Iranian farming, and explains how this process altered the structure of Iran's economy. The change included the rise in cash crops, the growth of wage labor, the rise in off-farm employment, and the market economy's growing influence in the countryside. Floor also highlights the importance of trade within this burgeoning system, and gauges the impact of the commercialisation of agriculture on the rural population's socioeconomic status. { 692pp, 210x280mm, December 2003; PB, £66.99, 0934211787:9780934211789 , Mage Publishers } |
| BLACK PARROT, GREEN CROW : A Collection of Short Fiction [Houshang Golshiri] Until now, only a sparse selection of Golshiri's fiction has been available in English translation -- three short stories, a novella written under a pseudonym, and his novel Prince Ehtejab, which was made into a film. Now, Black Parrot, Green Crow brings together the largest collection of Golshiri's writings in any language -- eighteen short stories and three poems. They span the arc of Golshiri's career as a writer, from his days as a young student in Isfahan under the Pahlavi regime, to the 1980s and 1990s, and the disappointment of Iranian people with the Islamic Republic. Golshiri's stories, crafted with a withering irony, expose the fanatical and draconian political apparatus of tyrannical regimes, while his wry humour and delicate sensitivity to the human condition tempers the blistering satire, making the narratives short but nonetheless harrowing and touching tragedies. The tales are filled with the uncertainty of life in a culture undergoing drastic change, and hauntingly etch the plight of the individual in a climate of political oppression. { 240pp, 155x230mm, December 2003; PB, £16.99, 0934211744:9780934211741 , Mage Publishers } |
| BORROWED WARE : Medieval Persian Epigrams [Translated by Dick Davis] Poet and translator Dick Davis brings together a collection of epigrams by poets from the 'classic' period of Persian literature. It makes a fascinating introduction to a literature that is little known in the West, and incidentally provides insight into a vanished and extraordinary way of life. Davis's prodigious scholarship of Persian poetry has enabled him to select a wide range of poems, from both famous and little-known poets. The result is some of the best English translations of Persian poetry ever. Davis has maintained exceptional faithfulness to the original Persian while recasting the poems' grace and drive in English. The book also contains a lucid and entertaining introduction, and informative notes on each of the sixty-eight poets whose work is included. Each poem is faced by the text in delicate Persian nasta'liq calligraphy by Amir Hossein Tabnak. { 206pp, 140x215mm, December 2003; PB, £16.99, 0934211388:9780934211383 , Mage Publishers } |
| CLOSED CIRCUIT HISTORY [Ardeshir Mohassess] This is a record of Iran's eternal landscape of the past and a retrospective of an important Iranian artist. Ardeshir Mohassess is an artist of the first order, and as with all true artists he is an antenna and decoder of the society in which he lives. With rare skill and insight, using a few strokes, he communicates the truth of our experience. He has been drawing since the age of three, and although he received his degree in political science and law from the University of Tehran, his real interest was to draw his field, rather than practice it. His drawings were first published in Iran in the early 1960s and have continued to appear since, both in Iranian and Western newspapers, including The New York Times, The New York Review of Books and Graphics. Today, besides many private collectors and museums, The Library of Congress is also collecting Ardeshir's drawings. In a perceptive and culturally sensitive forward, former US Attorney General and advocate of constitutional rights Ramsey Clark sets the historical background enabling the unfamiliar Westerner to appreciate Ardeshir's art. Ali Banuazizi, professor of social psychology and modern Iranian history at Boston College, with brilliant simplicity and deep understanding, introduces us to Ardeshir Mohassess, the artist, his life, and work. { 232pp, 250x285mm, January 1989; HB, £33.50, 0934211183:9780934211185 , Mage Publishers } |
| CROWNING ANGUISH : Taj al-Saltana -- Memoirs of a Persian Princess From the Harem to Modernity [Abbas Amanat (ed)] { 352pp, 155x230mm, January 1993; PB, £16.99, 0934211361:9780934211369 , Mage Publishers } |
| DIARY OF A TREE [Goli Khalatbary] "Diary of a Tree" is a poem in two books from the point of view of a tree. Born in Tehran, Iran in 1944, Goli Khalatbary followed her father through his diplomatic postings as a girl. She saw many countries, many towns, and many landscapes, but could not have childhood friends. Poetry was the revelation of a summer day in a classroom, at 14, when she glanced at the window and was entranced by the way light transformed a drab scene into one that changed her heartbeat. Her earliest studies were in French, in schools and by correspondence. The full power of art occurred to her like another language when, at 18, she took a course in photography in England. In a career in this field spanning over 35 years, she produced mostly portraiture and illustrations for poetry. After moving to India she wrote the first book of "Diary of a Tree", and showed it as a text exhibition at the India International Center, Delhi. In recent years she has expanded into new media and started working with silver, as well as bronze, iron, stone, and photography. She is now back in Tehran, where she shows her work in annual exhibitions. { 195x195mm, January 2006; PB, £15.00, 193382302X:9781933823027 , Mage Publishers } |
| EPIC & SEDITION : The Case of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh [Dick Davis] Iran's national epic, the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, has traditionally been regarded by both Persians and Westerners as a poem celebrating the central role of monarchy in Persian history. In this groundbreaking book, Dick Davis argues that the poem is far more than a patriotic chronicle of kingly deeds. Rather, it is a subtle and highly ambiguous discussion of authority, and far from being a celebration of monarchy, its most famous episodes and heroes amount to a radical critique of the institution. Davis demonstrates that the public world of kingly authority is shadowed in the poem by a series of tragic father-son relationships, and that in both the royal and familial spheres, authority figures are invariably presented as morally inferior to those whom they govern. The Shahnameh's complex aesthetic structure and its tragic resolution of problem of authority and hierarchy make it an artistic artefact able to take its rightful place beside the major masterpieces of world literature. { 224pp, 140x215mm, October 2006; PB, £19.99, 1933823054:9781933823058 , Mage Publishers } |
| ETHICS OF THE ARISTOCRATS & OTHER SATIRICAL WORKS [Obeyd-e Zakani. Edited & Translated by Hasan Javadi] Obeyd-e Zakani, who died in 1372 is among the great poets of Iran but little known in the West. This selection of his work is the first to be translated into English. Obeyd was a remarkable satirist and social critic who looked upon his world of extravagant indulgence and corruption with the censorious eyes of a Juvenal, and portrayed it with the cynicism and wit of a Voltaire, and the hilarious grotesqueness of a Rabelais. He used scathing stories and sardonic maxims to paint a world full of deceit, greed, lust, sycophancy, and perversion, where old values and virtues were scorned and extremes of wealth and poverty, violence and bloodshed were the order of the day. { 140pp, 150x230mm, March 2008; £19.99, 1933823224:9781933823225 , Mage Publishers } |
| FROM ANCIENT PERSIA TO CONTEMPORARY IRAN : Selected Historical Milestones If what follows can smooth the path of any pupil or teacher in the difficult and arduous task of clambering out of the pit that we have dug for ourselves and which has been, and is being dug for us, I shall be well satisfied. As, however, the ideas contained in the pages that follow arise from the truth of experience in learning and teaching this most important of techniques, they can have universal application. It is open to any one to find the meanings contained therein. I would also like to say that I speak for myself. Different people interpret Alexander differently and I lay no claim to speak the only truth. From the Preface. Patrick Macdonald's book comprises his Notebook Jottings (teaching notes and aphorisms); five chapters on learning and teaching the Technique; and an index which enables easy access to subjects such as direction and movement, inhibition and tension. { 14pp, 125x280mm, January 2000; PB, £3.50, 0934211574:9780934211574 , Mage Publishers } |
| FROM PERSIA TO NAPA : Wine at the Persian Table [Najmieh Batmanglij] Wine is seen as the natural partner of many great cuisines, but few people associate it with Persian food, one of the world’s most sophisticated culinary traditions. The ties, in fact, are age-old. This book weaves together history, poetry, a look at modern viniculture, and a wealth of recipes and wine pairings to celebrate the rightful relationship of wine and food on the Persian table. 'Whoever seeks the origins of wine must be crazy', a Persian poet once declared, implying that simple enjoyment of this greatest gift of the grape ought to be enough. Since he wrote those words, however, winemaking has been traced all the way back to the northern uplands of the Fertile Crescent some seven millennia ago, the start of a journey that would take it across the Near East and then into Europe in the dawning years of civilisation. Iran was one of the nurseries of the wine grape, and, as empires rose and fell there, princes, priests, poets and people in ordinary walks of life all embraced wine in various ways. After Islam came to Iran, wine drinking sometimes slipped from public view, but it never disappeared. In this lavishly illustrated book, Najmieh Batmanglij explores that long and eventful history, then shifts her story to California’s famed Napa Valley, half a world away. There, in a kind of up-to-the-minute homage to the past, an Iranian-American named Darioush Khaledi uses the latest vinicultural techniques to make superb wines at a winery reminiscent of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the ancient Persian empire. The final section of the book offers 80 recipes, a guide to Persian hospitality, both old and new, and seasonal menus for various occasions. Grapes play a role in most of the recipes, whether in the form of the fruit, the leaf, the juice, the syrup, unripe grapes or their juice (verjuice), vinegar or wine. Although these recipes are presented for the modern table, they are traditional -- based on sources as various as a tenth-century Persian cookbook or the culinary archives of a sixteenth-century Persian court. The book has two special sections. One, written by Dick Davis, a leading authority on Persian literature, discusses the unique links between poetry and wine-drinking in Persian culture. The other, by wine-and-food expert Burke Owens, offers guidelines for pairing wine with the distinctive ingredients used in Persian cooking. He has also provided wine suggestions for each recipe. REVIEW: "The definitive book on Persian cooking. Not just a recipe collection but a fond introduction to a culture and a fascinating cuisine." -- Los Angeles Times. "Beautifully illustrated -- the recipes also pack a punch. I served Levantine Pilaf in pastry at a party and felt a genuine thrill as I cut into the golden dome..." -- New York Times. "A jewel of a book, rich in photography as well as in recipes." -- Washington Post. { 258pp, 240x310mm, August 2006; HB, £33.50, 1933823003:9781933823003 , Mage Publishers } |
| GARDEN OF THE BRAVE IN WAR : Recollections of Iran [Terence O'Donnell] When Terence O'Donnell, an American who lived in Iran for fifteen years in the 1960s and 1970s, was asked what he was doing there, he replied, "The conviction of all Iranians, of most of my compatriots, and indeed of the Russians, was that I was engaged in intelligence work. I was, and what is more I filed a daily report. My employer was myself and my reports consisted of eight thousand pages of journal. This book was drawn from that material." For ten of those years, O'Donnell lived on a farm near Shiraz, in southern Iran, where he raised mainly pomegranates, but also quinces, grapes, chickens, and bees. He also made many Iranian friends. His memories of that time have yielded a masterpiece of national portraiture, wonderfully alive to the complexities of the Iranian character -- courteous, capricious, deeply religious yet also playful, generous, and poetic. A work of shimmering beauty and sensitivity, Garden of the Brave in War will deepen every reader's understanding of the often elusive country that lies behind the headlines. { 242pp, 140x215mm, December 2003; PB, £13.50, 0934211809:9780934211802 / HB, £33.50, 0934211795:9780934211796 , Mage Publishers } |
| HAPPY NOWRUZ : Cooking with Children to Celebrate the Persian New Year [Najmieh Batmanglij] Book & Gingerbread Cookie Cutter. Nowruz -- the Persian New Year -- is one of the world's great festivals, a full month of activities celebrating the earth, the arrival of spring, and the rebirth of nature. Most of all, it is a festival for families. Children and adults alike can share in preparing special meals, decorating the house, and performing the many ceremonies that welcome the New Year. This is a guide to customs thousands of years old yet as vital as ever -- enjoyable for families no matter where they live or what their beliefs. "Happy Nowruz" offers twenty-five fun, easy, and innovative Nowruz recipes, with lots of photos to show you what to do. This is an ideal guide for parents, teachers, and children -- age six and older -- to know more about the origins of Nowruz and to get everyone involved in preparing for the arrival of spring by: baking Haji Firuz cookies; germinating seeds in eggshells; colouring eggs; making a Nowruz garland; jumping over fires; setting the Haft-sinn (seven-s) holiday table; planting narcissus and hyacinth bulbs; selecting and buying goldfish; banging spoons for trick-or-treating; cooking the Nowruz dinner; enjoying the Outdoor Thirteen picnic. { 120pp, 215x280mm, February 2008; SB, £26.99, 193382316X:9781933823164 , Mage Publishers } |
| HISTORY OF THEATER IN IRAN [Willem Floor] Although most people do not speak of theatre and Iran in the same breath, dramatic expression has always been a fixture of Iranian culture. In traditional Iranian theatre, there was no real difference between high and low culture, although artists attached to the royal court and sponsored by the rich tended to be more competent than those who performed for the public at large. With the exception of religious and narrative drama, written texts were seldom used. The artists – whether comedian, mime, puppeteer, elegist or storyteller performed both in public and private spaces. The arrival of European theatre, with its reliance on a written text and normative rather than improvisatory acting, was part of the modernisation process in Iran. European theatre was introduced to the country in 1878, enjoyed a hey-day in the early years of the twentieth century, and has experienced many ups-and-downs since then. Today, it once again enjoys great popularity. At the same time, traditional theatre is being rediscovered, and playwrights are using some of its forms to develop indigenous modern Iranian theatre-- a melding of the deep past and dynamic present. { 340pp, 215x280mm, June 2005; PB, £33.50, 0934211299:9780934211291 , Mage Publishers } |
| IN THE DRAGON'S CLAWS : The Story of Rostam & Esfandiyar From the Persian Book of Kings [Jerome W Clinton (ed)] { 144pp, 140x215mm, January 1999; PB, £11.99, 0934211566:9780934211567 , Mage Publishers } |
| IN THE LAND OF THE LION & SUN : Being Experiences of Life in Persia From 1866 to 1881 [C J Wills; Introduction by Abbas Amanat] C J Wills was an English physician who travelled widely in Iran from 1866-81 while working for the Indo-European Telegraph Department. With a discerning eye for detail, Wills wrote an intimate anthropological account of Qajar-era Iran, rich with description of everyday life, popular beliefs and practices, and arts and crafts, as well as health practices and communications that were his professional concern. In the Land of the Lion and Sun, the second volume to appear in Mage's Persia Observed series, provides a fresh and fascinating insight into both a time and a place, as well as the biases and sympathies of a generation. In his introduction to this new edition of Wills' book, Abbas Amanat presents a critical reading of Wills' career, his works, and his view of Qajar Iran. In an appendix, Michael Rubin gives a brief history of the introduction of telegraph to Iran, and discusses the role of employees such as Wills in the development of modern Persian communication. { 446pp, 140x210mm, July 2004; HB, £19.50, 0934211604:9780934211604 , Mage Publishers } |
| INSIDE IRAN : Women's Lives [Jane Howard] TV crews and foreign correspondents come and go, but former BBC correspondent Jane Howard made her home in Iran for five years, raising her two young children there. Her experience took her beyond the headlines and horror stories and into the lives of everyday Iranian women. Her brilliantly observed report, takes readers from dinner in a presidential palace to tea in a nomad's tent. From women working in rice paddies and tea plantations to highly educated women in Tehran who have been banned from working in their professions. The image of Iranian women is still one of anonymous ranks of revolutionary marchers, clad in black. But underneath their black chadors or drab raincoats, they not only wear jeans, T-shirts and Lycra leggings, but they also work outside the home, drive, play sports and even become politicians. While many women haven't regained the Western-style freedom they lost in the revolution of 1979, others have won rights they never had before. Practically every girl has access to primary education now, and even remote villages have clean drinking water, a paved road and a school. Yet Islamic law continues to impose many inequities and constraints. In cash terms, for example, a woman's life is worth half that of a man's, and in the courtroom, two women have to give evidence to equal one man's testimony. This is a fascinating story of struggle and change, vividly documenting what it means to be a woman in Iran. { 256pp, 155x230mm, January 2002; PB, £13.50, 0934211728:9780934211727 / HB, £19.99, 093421171X:9780934211710 , Mage Publishers } |
| IRAN & THE WEST -- A CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 1500-1987, VOLUME 1 : Books [Cyrus Ghani] Iran and the West is a critical bibliography of over 4000 books, articles, journals, and catalogues about Iran written in Western languages and published from 1500 up to the late 1980s. The author, scholar and collector Cyrus Ghani, who collected books for over 40 years, has written a personal commentary for each entry. Some entries are brief factual annotations while for others such as biographies, autobiographies and books about modern Iranian history and politics, Ghani has made lengthy and erudite comments demonstrating his broad knowledge of Iranian and world history as well as his cultivated moral intelligence. Iran and the West is a useful reference book that brings together a vast array of cross-discipline writing about Iran, including some books and articles whose titles would not make them obvious candidates. It is not only an indispensable tool for scholars and researchers of Iranian studies; it also provides a wealth of fascinating information that will reward any reader who dips into it. Available in two volumes. { 764pp, 155x230mm, August 2006; PB, £49.99, 1933823089:9781933823089 , Mage Publishers } |
| IRAN & THE WEST -- A CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 1500-1987, VOLUME 2 : Articles, Journals & Catalogs [Cyrus Ghani] Iran and the West is a critical bibliography of over 4000 books, articles, journals, and catalogues about Iran written in Western languages and published from 1500 up to the late 1980s. The author, scholar and collector Cyrus Ghani, who collected books for over 40 years, has written a personal commentary for each entry. Some entries are brief factual annotations while for others such as biographies, autobiographies and books about modern Iranian history and politics, Ghani has made lengthy and erudite comments demonstrating his broad knowledge of Iranian and world history as well as his cultivated moral intelligence. Iran and the West is a useful reference book that brings together a vast array of cross-discipline writing about Iran, including some books and articles whose titles would not make them obvious candidates. It is not only an indispensable tool for scholars and researchers of Iranian studies; it also provides a wealth of fascinating information that will reward any reader who dips into it. Available in two volumes. { 264pp, 155x230mm, August 2006; PB, £19.99, 1933823097:9781933823096 , Mage Publishers } |
| IRAN THE BEAUTIFUL [Daniel Nadler] In distinctive ways, Iran is one of the most photogenic countries in the world -- a place where dazzling architecture is set amid desolate expanses of desert or steppe; where snow-capped mountains plunge dramatically to a seacoast of steamy lushness; where nomads guide their flocks to seasonal pasturelands; where tombs, temples, castles, and mosques bespeak the richness of the Persian past. High and dry for the most part, the land is sectioned by great mountain ranges, dotted with venerable villages of mud and stone as well as modern cities, and has a cultural fabric woven of many different threads -- Persian, Turkic, Kurdish, Baluchi and even Mongol. For a photographer to capture such a mix of spectacular terrain and cultural complexity is a formidable challenge, one that Daniel Nadler, an American born in Egypt, has met brilliantly in Iran the Beautiful. This book, comprising more than 170 photographs, takes as its symbolic centre the magnificent landmark of Mount Damavand, the highest peak in the Middle East, and ranges outward from there north to the Caspian Sea, east as far as Gonbad-e Kavus, west toward Zanjan, and south to Isfahan. All lie no more than a day's drive from the great volcano, yet within those bounds can be found a spectrum of landscapes, lifestyles, and architectural treasures that show why Iran, once seen, can never be forgotten. { 220pp, 235x320mm, November 2002; HB, £33.50, 0934211736:9780934211734 , Mage Publishers } |
| IRANIAN NATIONALITY : & the Persian Language [Shahrokh Meskoob] In this insightful study of Iranian cultural history and national identity, Shahrokh Meskoob, one of Iran's leading intellectuals, reviews the roles of three social classes, the courtiers and bureaucratic officials (ahl-e divan), the religious scholars (ulama), and the Muslim Gnostics (Sufi poets and writers), in the development and refinement of the Persian language during the past one thousand years and gives the reader a fresh perspective on Iranian cultural heritage and the struggle to forge a distinct national identity. Dr. Ali Banuazizi's foreword and interview with the author sets the stage for a fuller appreciation of this invaluable and wide-ranging contribution to Iranian intellectual history. { 192pp, 155x230mm, January 1997; HB, £19.99, 0934211213:9780934211215 , Mage Publishers } |
| KING OF THE BENIGHTED : A Novella [Manuchehr Irani (Houshang Golshiri); Translated by Abbas Milani] Foreword by Nasrin Rahimieh. Includes Nezami's 'Black Dome' from 'The Seven Beauties'. REVIEW: "The restraint of the writing and the character of the poet, idealistic and unpolitical, make this a story to be read on many levels. It is a terrible indictment of a contemporary regime, but it is equally an allegory about the loss of innocence and hope." -- Kirkus Reviews. { 110pp, 140x205mm, January 1995; PB, £8.99, 0934211442:9780934211444 , Mage Publishers } |
| LEGEND OF SEYAVASH [Abolqasem Ferdowski; Translated by Dick Davis] The Legend of Seyavash comes from the middle section of the Shahnameh, Iran's national epic by the poet Ferdowsi (c940-c1020) and presents a world of warfare, military prowess, romance, guile, and fierce tribal loyalty. Ferdowsi's epic style and mastery of poetic organisation, however, is matched by the psychological and ethical depth of his insight and his concerns for the primal struggle between good and evil, and man's continual attempt to create justice and civilized order out of the chaos of human greed and cruelty. The Legend of Seyavash begins with the stuff of romance -- a foreign girl of royal blood, found as a fugitive and introduced into the king's harem, gives birth to a son, Seyavash, who is raised not by his father the king, but by the great hero Rostam. On Seyavash's return home Sudabeh, his stepmother, attempts to seduce him, and when he spurns her she accuses him of having attempted to rape her. He undergoes a trial by fire to prove his innocence, and goes on to battle successfully against Iran's rival, Turan, concluding a truce with the Turanian king, Afrasyab, on amicable terms. But Seyavash's father, Kavus, insists that Seyavash surrender the Turanian hostages to slaughter, and with a conflicted conscience and no one to turn to, Seyavash flees to the Turanian court, where he is first given safe harbour, but is once again abandoned. Dick Davis has made a masterful translation of the poem and written a penetrating introduction. { 144pp, 140x215mm, March 2004; PB, £13.50, 0934211914:9780934211918 , Mage Publishers } |
| LOST WISDOM : Rethinking Modernity in Iran [Abbas Milani] In the essays collected here, Abbas Milani uses an impressive array of cross-disciplinary Western and Iranian theories and texts to investigate the crucial question of modernity in Iran today. He offers a wealth of new insights into the thousand-year-old conflict in Iran between the search for modernity and the forces of religious obscurantism. The essays trace the roots of Shiite Islamic fundamentalism and offer illuminating accounts of the work of Iranian intellectuals -- both men and women -- and their artistic movements as they struggle to find a new path toward a genuine modernity in Iran that is congruent with Iran's rich cultural heritage. This book challenges the hitherto accepted theory that modernity and its related concepts of democracy and freedom are Western in essence. It also demonstrates that Iran and the West have more that brings them together than separates them in their search for such modern ideals as rationalism, the rule of law, and democracy. { 168pp, 155x230mm, December 2003; PB, £13.50, 0934211906:9780934211901 / HB, £26.99, 0934211892:9780934211895 , Mage Publishers } |
| LIFE IN IRAN : The Library of Congress Drawings [Ardeshir Mohassess] This is a series of powerful drawings by Iran's greatest satirist. Drawn in exile during the Islamic Revolution of 1979, they remain, 15 years later (after the replacement of the Shah by the Ayatollah and the Ayatollah by the President and the Spiritual Guide) as meaningful and sharp-sighted as ever. { 48pp, 300x240mm, January 1997; PB, £13.50, 0934211396:9780934211390 , Mage Publishers } |
| LOST WISDOM : Rethinking Modernity in Iran [Abbas Milani] In the essays collected here, Abbas Milani uses an impressive array of cross-disciplinary Western and Iranian theories and texts to investigate the crucial question of modernity in Iran today. He offers a wealth of new insights into the thousand-year-old conflict in Iran between the search for modernity and the forces of religious obscurantism. The essays trace the roots of Shiite Islamic fundamentalism and offer illuminating accounts of the work of Iranian intellectuals -- both men and women -- and their artistic movements as they struggle to find a new path toward a genuine modernity in Iran that is congruent with Iran’s rich cultural heritage. The book challenges the hitherto accepted theory that modernity and its related concepts of democracy and freedom are Western in essence. It also demonstrates that Iran and the West have more that brings them together than separates them in their search for such modern ideals as rationalism, the rule of law, and democracy. { 168pp, 155x230mm, December 2003; HB, £26.99, 0934211892:9780934211895 , Mage Publishers } |
| MAN OF MANY WORLDS : The Diaries & Memoirs of Dr Ghassem Ghani [Cyrus Ghani (ed)] Rare is the life lived at the centre of history-shaping events, and rarer still the combining of such a life with brilliant gifts of observation and expression. Dr Ghasem Ghani of Iran was such an individual. His recollections of a career of pioneering scholarship and diplomacy have been published to great acclaim in twelve volumes in the original Persian. Now his son has edited and abridged this record into a single volume in English. For anyone interested in modern Iranian history and the interacting traditions of East and West, it is essential reading, full of insightful observations and comments that are relevant today. { 506pp, 160x235mm, February 2006; HB, £33.50, 0934211302:9780934211307 , Mage Publishers } |
| MASTERS & MASTERPIECES OF IRANIAN CINEMA [Hamid Dabashi] The rise of Iranian cinema to world prominence over the last few decades is one of the most fascinating cultural stories of our time. There is scarcely an international film festival anywhere that does not honour the aesthetic and political explorations of Iranian artists. MASTERS & MASTERPIECES OF IRANIAN CINEMA celebrates this remarkable emergence. It focuses on twelve of the most important Iranian filmmakers of the past half-century -- among them, such pioneers as Forugh Farrokhzad, Dariush Mehrjui, Abbas Kiarostami, and Jafar Panahi. In his examination of their lives and their greatest works, Hamid Dabashi explains how, despite the censorship of both the Pahlavi monarchy and the Islamic Republic, the creativity of these filmmakers has transcended national and cultural borders. His account traces the ascendancy of Iranian cinema in modern Iranian intellectual history and also probes its links to Persian poetry, fiction, art, and philosophy. In Europe and in North America, in Asia and in Latin America, in Australia and Africa, the thematic and narrative richness of Iranian cinema has met with tremendous acclaim. Indeed, its particular modes of realism -- building on such cinematic antecedents as Italian, French and German neorealism -- have become truly transnational, contributing a new visual vocabulary to filmmaking everywhere. Masters & Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema studies the role that prominent film festivals have played in fostering the global success of Iranian cinema, and investigates the reception of these films within Iran, an intriguing story in its own right. This is a book that will reward not only the scholar and the film aficionado but also anyone interested in the cultural history of modern Iran. { 456pp, 165x240mm, December 2010; PB, £16.99, 0934211841:9780934211840 / HB, £39.99, 093421185X:9780934211857 , Mage Publishers } |
| MY FAVORITE FILMS [Cyrus Ghani] In this panoramic guide by one of the world's most knowledgeable movie enthusiasts, Cyrus Ghani reviews more than six hundred and fifty of the big screen's finest offerings. An international lawyer and eminent historian, Ghani has lived on three continents and is fluent in several languages, affording him a uniquely broad perspective on cinema. His love affair with movies began, he says, at the age of eight and has lasted a lifetime. My Favorite Films is the result -- the work of an avid fan, keenly insightful, highly informative, and happily free of the arcane terminology and analysis of academic film criticism. In these pages, Ghani moves from early silent classics like Buster Keaton's The General and Charlie Chaplin's City Lights to the films of Billy Wilder and John Huston, the Ealing Studios capers, famed Ernst Lubitsch romantic comedies, the countless, finely-crafted films by Max Ophuls, and recent hits like The Silence of the Lambs and L A Confidential -- a journey of exploration that will excite and delight film aficionados and occasional viewers alike. { 726pp, 120x205mm, June 2004; PB, £19.99, 0934211868:9780934211864 / HB, £33.50, 0934211876:9780934211871 , Mage Publishers } |
| MY FAVORITE FILMS [Cyrus Ghani] In this panoramic guide by one of the world's most knowledgeable movie enthusiasts, Cyrus Ghani reviews more than six hundred and fifty of the big screen's finest offerings. An international lawyer and eminent historian, Ghani has lived on three continents and is fluent in several languages, affording him a uniquely broad perspective on cinema. His love affair with movies began, he says, at the age of eight and has lasted a lifetime. My Favorite Films is the result -- the work of an avid fan, keenly insightful, highly informative, and happily free of the arcane terminology and analysis of academic film criticism. In these pages, Ghani moves from early silent classics like Buster Keaton's The General and Charlie Chaplin's City Lights to the films of Billy Wilder and John Huston, the Ealing Studios capers, famed Ernst Lubitsch romantic comedies, the countless, finely-crafted films by Max Ophuls, and recent hits like The Silence of the Lambs and L A Confidential -- a journey of exploration that will excite and delight film aficionados and occasional viewers alike. { 728pp, 125x210mm, June 2004; HB, £33.50, 0934211876:9780934211871 , Mage Publishers } |
| NAPOLEON & PERSIA : Franco-Persian Relations Under the First Empire [Iradj Amini] Franco-Persian relations have long been neglected by Napoleonic scholars, however, they show how Napoleon's political and strategic thinking extended far beyond the frontiers of Europe. This volume discusses in detail those years of delicate diplomacy, complicated by the problem of distance, the intrigues of Britain and the intransigence of Russia. The dangerous existing conditions, the unique personalities of the protagonists, and the formidable subtlety of the Persian make this a riveting tale of international politics. Written in a style which brings together historical facts and entertaining anecdotes, 'Napoleon and Persia' will appeal not only to scholars, but to a wide readership interested in the history of Europe, military studies, and international relations. { 228pp, 255x230mm, December 1999; HB, £23.50, 0934211582:9780934211581 , Mage Publishers } |
| NEW FOOD OF LIFE : Ancient Persian & Modern Iranian Cooking & Ceremonies [Najmieh Batmanglij] This is a treasury of 240 classical and regional Iranian recipes. 120 colour photographs intertwined with descriptions of ancient and modern ceremonies, poetry, folk tales, travelogue excerpts, and anecdotes make New Food of Life not just a collection of recipes but also an introduction to Persian art and culture. Each recipe is presented in a format that is brilliantly logical and marvellously easy-to-follow. You will learn how to cook rice, the jewel of Persian cooking, simply yet deliciously. And by combining it with a little meat, fowl, or fish, vegetables, fruits, and herbs, you'll have a balanced diet -- colourful, yet healthy, simple yet exotic. Iranian festivals, ceremonies, and celebrations, together with the menus and recipes associated with them are described in detail: from the ancient winter solstice celebration, Yalda, or the "sun's birthday," which is the origin of such Western holidays as Christmas and Halloween, to the rituals and symbolism involved in a modern Iranian marriage. Like a magnificent Persian carpet, 1,000 years of Persian literature and art have been woven into the book. Food-related pieces from such classics as the 10th century Book of Kings, and 1,001 Nights to the miniatures of Mir Mussavar and Aq Mirak, from the poetry of Omar Khayyam to the humour of Mulla Nasruddin are all included. Now with the ingredients for Iranian food available in most US cities, "New Food of Life" makes accessible one of the world's oldest -- yet least known -- culinary traditions where the first recipes were written 4,000 years ago in a cuneiform script on clay tablets. { 448pp, 220x250mm, January 1997; HB, £29.99, 0934211345:9780934211345 , Mage Publishers } |
| PERSIAN BAZAAR : Veiled Space of Desire [Mehdi Khansari & Minouch Yavari] Aiming to reveal the social logic underlying the Persian bazaar, this work examines the intricate workings and underlying cultural and spiritual structure of the traditional bazaar from Istanbul to Samarkand. { 120pp, January 1997; HB, £33.50, 093421137X:9780934211376 , Mage Publishers } |
| PERSIAN COOKING : For a Healthy Kitchen [Najmieh Batmanglij] Persian cuisine is exotic yet simple like a poem by Omar Khayyam, healthy yet colourful like a Persian miniature painting. It combines rice, the jewel and foundation of Persian cooking, with a little meat, fowl or fish; plenty of onion, garlic, vegetables, fruit, nuts, herbs; and a delicate, uniquely Persian mix of spices such as rose petals, angelica seeds, dried limes, candied orange peels, cinnamon, cardamom, cumin and saffron to achieve a delicious and balanced diet. Drawing on her 15 years of experience collecting and adapting authentic Persian recipes, and inspired by her years in Southern France and the United States, Najmieh Batmanglij has brought about a marriage of ancient Persian cooking, French Provencal food presentation, and contemporary American eating styles. The result is Persian Cooking for a Healthy Kitchen, 95 exquisite kitchen-tested recipes that are low in fat yet high in flavour -- a feast for both the eyes and the taste buds--that meet the current health goals of limiting the calories from saturated fats. The recipes have been kitchen tested by both American and Persian chefs. They are intelligently written and easy to follow, one per page, each facing a magnificent photograph by the renowned French photographer, Serge Ephrahim. { 200pp, 215x240mm, January 2001; PB, £14.99, 0934211671:9780934211673 , Mage Publishers } |
| PERSIAN GREETING CARDS Twenty-one greeting cards, new from Mage, for holidays, birthdays, invitations, thank-you's, or any occasion when you'd like to send a card. Each card features a full-colour cover image and a short story or greeting on the inside and/or back cover. There is also room to inscribe your personal message. Cards which feature a Persian dish also include a recipe inside. The set comes with twenty-one cards, each with its own envelope. { 130x195mm, December 2003; GC, £19.99, 0934211922:9780934211925 , Mage Publishers } |
| PERSIAN GULF -- THE RISE OF THE GULF ARABS : The Politics of Trade on the Persian Littoral, 1747-1792 [Willem Floor] The history of the Persian Gulf during the 18th century is still little known. This gap is now being filled by the historian and renowned scholar Willem Floor. This study tells the fascinating story of the shift in trade from the lower to the upper Gulf, while there was also a partial shift of trade from the northern Persian coast to the southern Arab coast. It tells of the departure of first the Dutch then the British trading companies, and the rise of the local rulers who began to dominate political developments, whether it was the Imam of Oman in Masqat, the Qavasem in the Strait of Hormuz, the Ka'b in the Shatt al-Arab, Sheikh Naser in Bushire and Bahrain, Mir Mohanna in Dashtestan and at the head of the Gulf, and the 'Otobis at Kuwait, Bahrain and Zubara. And finally it tells of how, because of a lack of interest by the Persian and Ottoman governments in the region, the Bombay fleet of the East India Company increasingly used their naval power to protect commercial interests in the Gulf, which paved the way for a similar role played by the British Royal Navy in the 19th century. { 363pp, 215x280mm, October 2007; PB, £33.50, 1933823186:9781933823188 , Mage Publishers } |
| PERSIAN NEW YEAR CARDS New from Mage Publishers and the renowned cookbook author Najmieh Batmanglij, is a Persian New Year set which contains five copies of each of four Nowruz cards, featuring Ash-e Reshteh (noodle soup served during the New Year ceremonies), two different Haft Sinn settings (the Persian New Year setting of symbolic elements), and Sabzeh (shows a photograph of the sprouts grown for Persian New Year and teaches you how to make your own sprouts). Send these cards to friends and family, and acquaint Iranians, Americans, or citizens of the world, with the art and traditions of Persian culture. { 130x195mm, December 2003; GC, £19.99, 0934211930:9780934211932 , Mage Publishers } |
| PERSIAN REVOLUTION 1905-1909, 2ND EDITION [Edward G Browne] An essential volume for anyone attempting to understand Persia's past and present, this new edition features an introduction by Abbas Amanat, Browne's correspondences, and contemporary reviews of the book, all of which provide a rich context for this book. { 470pp, 155x230mm, December 2006; PB, £33.50, 1933823070:9781933823072 , Mage Publishers } |
| PERSIAN SPHINX : A Biography of Abbas Milani [Amir Abbas Hoveyda] Who lost Iran? How and why did a country, never richer, never more educated, its women never more liberated erupt in a fundamentalist revolution? The answer can be found in the enthralling life and tragic death of one man. Amir Abbas Hoveyda was a central figure in the historic struggle between modernity and tradition in Iran -- a struggle pitting Western cosmopolitanism against Persian isolationism, secularism against religious fundamentalism, and ultimately civil society and democracy against authoritarianism. "The Persian Sphinx" is biography at its most powerful and reads like a modern-day Shakespearean tragedy. It will reward the general reader and the scholar alike. { 399pp, 155x230mm, December 2003; PB, £16.99, 0934211884:9780934211888 , Mage Publishers } |
| PERSIAN SPHINX, PERSIAN EDITION : Amir Abbas Hoveyda & the Riddle of the Iranian Revolution [Abbas Milani] Text in Persian. { 155x230mm, November 2006; PB, £19.99, 1933823038:9781933823034 , Mage Publishers } |
| PUBLIC HEALTH IN QAJAR IRAN [Willem Floor] This book offer a broad and comprehensive survey of the state of public health, medical practice and its practitioners in 1800-1925. Based on first-hand accounts of European travellers and doctors who practised and observed medical treatment, the study provides an overview of the major diseases the population suffered and how these were treated. It also includes the available evidence logged by Iranian patients abroad and at home, as well as contemporary Persian texts that comment on public health and its practice in Iran. Floor shuns the analysis of classic Islamic medical textbooks, explaining that their medical advice was hardly ever administered and that the authors often had ideological (religious) agendas in writing these treatises. Instead, Floor investigates the commonly accepted theories of diseases, disorders, and their cures, including Islamic Galenic medicine and pre-Islamic theurgic folk medicine based on traditional herb lore and trial-and-error. The book concludes with the impact of Western medicine on the traditional medical institutions and public health in Qajar Iran. This exhaustive inquiry will enthral scholars of Iran and medicine alike. { 270pp, 215x280mm, July 2004; PB, £33.50, 0934211086:9780934211086 , Mage Publishers } |
| PURSUIT OF PLEASURE : Drugs & Stimulants in Iranian History, 1500-1900 [Rudi Matthee] From ancient times to the present day, Iranian social, political, and economic life has been dramatically influenced by psychoactive agents. This book looks at the stimulants that, as put by a long-time resident of seventeenth-century Iran, Raphaël du Mans, provided Iranians with damagh, gave them a 'kick', got them into a good mood. By tracing their historical trajectory and the role they played in early modern Iranian society (1500-1900), Rudi Matthee takes a major step in extending contemporary debates on the role of drugs and stimulants in shaping the modern West. At once panoramic and richly detailed, The Pursuit of Pleasure examines both the intoxicants known since ancient times -- wine and opiates -- and the stimulants introduced later -- tobacco, coffee, and tea -- from multiple angles. It brings together production, commerce, and consumption to reveal the forces behind the spread and popularity of these consumables, showing how Iranians adapted them to their own needs and tastes and integrated them into their everyday lives. Matthee further employs psychoactive substances as a portal for a set of broader issues in Iranian history -- most notably, the tension between religious and secular leadership. Faced with reality, Iran’s Shi'I ulama turned a blind eye to drug use as long as it stayed indoors and did not threaten the social order. Much of this flexibility remains visible underneath the uncompromising exterior of the current Islamic Republic. { 346pp, 160x240mm, June 2005; HB, £26.50, 0934211647:9780934211642 , Mage Publishers } |
| ROSTAM : Tales of Love & War from Persia's Book of Kings [Abolqasem Ferdowsi; Translated with an Introduction by Dick Davis] Rostam is Iran's greatest mythological hero, a Persian Hercules, magnificent in strength and courage. As recounted in the tenth-century Book of Kings (Shahnameh) by the poet Ferdowsi, he was an indomitable force in ancient Persia for 500 years, undergoing many trials of combat, cunning and endurance. Although Rostam served a series of often-fickle kings, he was always his own man, committed to the greater good of Iran. His adventures are some of the best-loved of all Persian narratives and remain deeply resonant in Iranian culture. This book begins with the birth of Rostam’s father Zal and ends with Rostam’s death. The tales tell of the love between Zal and Rostam’s mother, the Kaboli princess Rudabeh; of Rostam’s miraculous birth, aided by the magical bird Simorgh; of Rostam’s youth and the selection of his trusty horse Rakhsh; of his affair with Princess Tahmineh, the birth of their son Sohrab, and, after Sohrab grows into a mighty warrior himself, the tragic confrontation between father and son. The tales conclude with Rostam’s war against demons, his seven trials, his rescue of Prince Bizhan, and finally his battle, both intellectual and physical, with the ambitious and religiously-driven prince Esfandyar. { 320pp, 120x185mm, March 2007; PB, £16.99, 1933823119:9781933823119 , Mage Publishers } |
| SAVUSHUN : A Novel About Modern Iran [Simin Daneshvar] { 320pp, 140x215mm, January 1997; PB, £13.50, 0934211310:9780934211314 , Mage Publishers } |
| SEVEN SHADES OF MEMORY : Stories of Old Iran [Terence O'Donnell] Terence O'Donnell lived in Iran from 1957-71, operating a farm from 1963-70 before returning to America. "Seven Shades of Memory" is his first collection of short stories. The stories share the theme of cultural collision, either as East meets West, or as members of different cultures within Iran tentatively interact. These stories show his prescient understanding of the multifaceted nuances of Persian culture and the Westerners who attempt to navigate through it. { 150pp, 140x215mm, October 2006; PB, £13.50, 1933823143:9781933823140 / PB, £9.99, 0934211590:9780934211598 , Mage Publishers } |
| SILK ROAD COOKING : A Vegetarian Journey [Majmieh Batmanglij] This book is at once an exploration, a celebration, and a little-known tale of unity. It presents 150 delicious vegetarian dishes that together trace a fascinating story of culinary linkage. As renowned cookbook writer and teacher Najmieh Batmanglij explains, all have their origins along the ancient network of trade routes known as the Silk Road, stretching from China in the east to the Mediterranean in the west. On this highway moved not just trade goods but also ideas, customs, tastes and such basics of life as cooking ingredients. The result was the connecting and enrichment of dozens of cuisines. In 'Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey', Najmieh Batmanglij recounts that process and brings it into the modern kitchen in the form of recipes that are venturesome and yet within reach of any cook. They are intended for vegetarian, partial-vegetarian and non-vegetarian alike -- anyone who is looking for balanced, unusual and exceptionally tasty dishes. The book offers a wealth of information derived from the author's extensive research and her travels along the Silk Road during the past 25 years. She complements the recipes with stories, pictures, histories of ingredients, and words of wisdom from her favourite poets and writers of the region. Introduction: A Traveller’s Tale; The Era of Caravans; New Foods -- East & West; Toward a Silk Road Cuisine; Salads, Eggs Rice Fruit & Vegetable Braises Pasta, Pizza & Bread Pastries, Desserts & Candies Teas, Coffee & Sherbets Preserves, Pickles & Spices Silk Road Glossary & Resources Credits & Acknowledgements Index. { 336pp, 215x280mm, August 2004; PB, £23.50, 0934211965:9780934211963 , Mage Publishers } |
| SOCIAL HISTORY OF SEXUAL RELATIONS IN IRAN [Willem Floor] This study illuminates the 2,500 year social history of sexual relations in Iran. Marriage, temporary marriage, prostitution, and homosexuality are all discussed, as well as the often unintended result of these relations -- sexually transmitted diseases. The book uses travellers' accounts, Iranian and international archival sources, as well as government data to bring together, in detail, and within the context of Iranian culture and religion, the nature, variety, and problems of sexual relations in Iran over the ages. Finally, Willem Floor summarises the issues that Iranian society faces today -- which are not dissimilar to that of many other industrial nations -- the challenge to the male claim to dominance over women; change in the age of marriage; premarital sex; rising divorce rates; rising promiscuity; prostitution; sexually transmitted diseases; homosexuality and street children. { 459pp, 150x225mm, August 2008; PB, £33.50, 193382333X:9781933823331 , Mage Publishers } |
| STORIES FROM IRAN : A Chicago Anthology 1921-1991 [Heshmat Moayyad (ed)] { 576pp, 180x260mm, January 1997; PB, £23.50, 0934211337:9780934211338 , Mage Publishers } |
| STORIES FROM THE SHAHNAMEH OF FERDOWSI, VOLUME 1 : Lion & the Throne [Ehsan Yarshater] Among the masterpieces of world literature, perhaps the least familiar to English readers is the Persian book of Kings (Shahnameh, in Persian). This prodigious national epic, composed by the poet Ferdowsi between 980 and 1010, tells the story of ancient Persia, beginning in the mythic time of Creation and continuing forward to the Arab-Islamic invasion in the 7th century. Translator Dick Davis combines his skills as a poet and a Ferdowsi scholar to evoke the metrical music, impact, and nuance of Ferdowsi’s monumental poem. Breathtaking miniatures from the finest Persian Shahnameh manuscripts of the 16th and 17th centuries heighten the emotional impact of the text. A short afterword by the eminent art historian Stuart Cary Welch unravels the history behind these paintings. { 272pp, 185x290mm, January 1998; HB, £49.99, 0934211507:9780934211505 , Mage Publishers } |
| STORIES FROM THE SHAHNAMEH OF FERDOWSI, VOLUME 2 : Fathers & Sons [Dick Davis (ed)] Volume 2 opens and closes with tales of tragic conflict between a king and his son: Prince Seyavash and Prince Esfandiyar are both driven from the court by their foolish fathers to confront destiny and death in distant lands. Interwoven with Seyavash's story is the tale of his stepmother Sudabeh's lust for her young stepson, and of his escape from her tricks by the famous trial by fire; Esfandiyar's story involves the last combat of the great Rostam, a fight to the death which leads to Rostam's own demise at the hands of his evil brother Shaghad. Between these two stories the reader travels through a wondrous landscape of romance, demons, heroic despair and mystical renunciation of the world. { 310pp, 185x290mm, January 2000; HB, £49.99, 0934211531:9780934211536 , Mage Publishers } |
| STORIES FROM THE SHAHNAMEH OF FERDOWSI, VOLUME 3 : Sunset of Empire [Translated by Dick David] With our third and final volume of stories from the Shahnameh we move from mythology and legend to romanticized history. Here the mighty events that shook ancient Persia from the time of Alexander of Macedon’s conquest to the Arab invasion of the 7th century CE are reflected in the stirring and poignant narratives of Ferdowsi, the master poet who took on himself the task of preserving his country’s great pre-Islamic heritage. We see vast empires rise and fall, the rule of noble kings and cruel tyrants, the fortunes of a people buffeted by contending tides of history. Larger than life individuals are vividly depicted -- the impulsive, pleasure-loving king Bahram Gur, the wise vizier Bozarjmehr, the brave rebel Bahram Chubineh, his loyal defiant sister Gordyeh, and many others -- but we also see many vignettes of everyday life in the villages and towns of ancient Persia, and in this part of the Shahnameh Ferdowsi indulges his talent for sly humor much more than in the earlier tales. The poem rises to its magnificent climax in its last pages, when the tragic end of an era is recorded and Ferdowsi and his characters look with foreboding towards an unstable and fearful future. Breathtaking miniatures from the finest Persian Shahnameh manuscripts of the 16th and 17th centuries, many of them published here for the first time, heighten the emotional impact of the text. { 552pp, 185x285mm, December 2003; HB, £89.99, 093421168X:9780934211680 , Mage Publishers } |
| STRANGLING OF PERSIA : A Personal Narrative [W Morgan Shuster] In 1911, an ambitious American was invited by a budding Iranian democracy to bring financial stability to the country. He went with the blessing of the British and Russian governments, both of which enjoyed a wide sphere of influence in the region. However, he had far more success in helping to make Iran a credible democracy than anyone had expected, and he was subsequently ousted by those same governments. After he was forced to return to the US, Shuster wrote a book revealing the true motives of the superpowers of the time and how the region’s course of history was forever altered. { 423pp, 140x215mm, October 2006; PB, £23.50, 1933823062:9781933823065 , Mage Publishers } |
| TASTE OF PERSIA : An Introduction to Persian Cuisine: 2nd Edition [Najmieh K Batmanglij] This is a collection of authentic recipes from one of the world's oldest cuisines, chosen and adapted for today's lifestyle and kitchen. Here are light appetisers and kababs, hearty stews and rich, golden-crusted rices, among many other dishes, all fragrant with the distinctive herbs, spices, or fruits of Iran. Each recipe offers clear, easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions. Most take less than an hour to prepare; many require only a few moments; many others can be made in advance. Besides its 100 recipes and 60 photographs, the book includes a useful dictionary of Persian cooking techniques and ingredients, a list of speciality stores that sell hard-to-find items, and a brief history of Persian cookery. Together these make a complete introduction to this wonderful cuisine. { 176pp, 180x255mm, August 2007; PB, £13.50, 1933823135:9781933823133 , Mage Publishers } |
| TRAVELS THROUGH NORTHERN PERSIA, 1770-1774 [Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin;Translated by Willem Floor] In 1770 the young German scientist and explorer Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin embarked on a journey on behalf of the Russian Academy of Sciences and in the service of Catherine the Great. These heretofore little-read accounts of his travels and broad research in Northern Persia, first published in German in St Petersburg in the 1770s, have now been translated for the first time into English by renowned scholar Willem Floor. In the two voyages recounted in this volume, Gmelin kept journals describing the customs, industry, political world, warfare, geography, and plant and animal life of Northern Persia, until his capture and imprisonment in the village of Parakay near the Caspian Sea in 1774 -- a misfortune that he also was able to record, and which is included here in the final volume of his travelogue. { 412pp, 210x280mm, October 2007; PB, £49.99, 1933823151:9781933823157 , Mage Publishers } |
| VIS & RAMIN [Fakhraddin Gorgani; Introduction & Notes by Dick Davis] VIS & RAMIN is one of the world's great love stories. it was the first major Persian romance, written between 1050 and 1055 in rhyming couplets. This remarkable work has now been superbly translated into heroic couplets (the closest metrical equivalent of the Persian) by the poet and scholar Dick Davis. VIS AND RAMIN had immense influence on later Persian poetry and is very probably also the source for the tale of Tristan and Isolde, which first appeared in Europe about a century later. The plot, complex yet powerfully dramatic, revolves around royal marital customs unfamiliar to us today. shahru, the married queen of mah, refuses an offer of marriage from King mobad of marv but promises that if she bears a daughter she will give the child to him as a bride. she duly bears a daughter, Vis, who is brought up by a nurse in the company of mobad's younger brother Ramin. By the time Vis reaches the age of marriage, shahru has forgotten her promise and instead weds her daughter to Vis's older brother, Viru. The next day mobad's brother Zard arrives to demand the bride, and fighting breaks out, during which Vis's father is killed. mobad then bribes shahru to hand Vis over to him. mobad's brother Ramin escorts Vis to her new husband and falls in love with her on the way. Vis has no love for mobad and turns to her old nurse for help... Told in language that is lush, sensual and highly inventive, VIS AND RAMIN is a masterpiece of psychological perceptiveness and characterisation: shahru is worldly and venal, the nurse resourceful and amoral (she will immediately remind Western readers of the nurse in shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet), Vis high-spirited and determined, Ramin impetuous and volatile. and the hopeless psychological situation of Vis' husband, mobad, flickers wearily from patience to self-assertion to fury and back again. The origins of VIS AND RAMIN are obscure. The story dates from the time of the Parthians (who ruled Persia from the third century BCE to the third century CE), and certainly existed in oral and perhaps written form before the eleventh century Persian poet Fakhraddin Gorgani composed the version that has come down to us. { 517pp, 125x205mm, March 2008; HB, £29.99, 1933823178:9781933823171 , Mage Publishers } |