March 2006 (RALEIGH, NC) - Maryam
Tabibzadeh has released a fascinating family
saga of life in Persia/Iran that spans the
20th century. Persian Dreams
follows the individual lives of family members
across generations, exploring the intimate
details of life in Iran during this period.
Through the loves and losses of the characters
and the telling and retelling of the family's
stories, the reader is allowed to experience
Persian culture from the inside.
From the architecture of the houses to the
rules governing relationships between men and
women, the texture of this rich culture
permeates the book and interweaves the
realities of the time and place with the
fictional lives of this family. Highlighting
the importance of poetry in Persian culture,
there are poems/songs throughout the novel
which speak of the love, the tragedy, the joy
that these characters experience over the
years.
Speaking from a place of great familiarity
with the culture, Tabibzadeh takes the reader
through time to experience the changes in the
culture from one generation to the next.
Through her characters, she offers great
insights into the lives of women in this
society and how the changes in the political
climate have affected women's lives and roles
over the years.
Describing the sources of inspiration and
material for her novel, Tabibzadeh credits "a
tangle of facts and fiction which came from my
research for my thesis in 1976; my observation
of more than 30 years living in that culture;
and the stories I heard from friends."
The resulting novel offers readers a glimpse
at an Iran that is much deeper than the
headlines and much broader than the
preconceptions that dominate Western media.
The complexity of the Iranian Revolution is
brought to life through characters who must
make tough decisions in difficult times, and
who suffer the costs of imperfect solutions.
Though the novel takes place exclusively in
the 20th century, this only delineates how
recently (and rapidly) this culture has gone
through significant changes. Yet, there are
also indications of how the past continues to
inform the present and how stubbornly
unchanging some cultural practices are,
especially in the case of women who must
struggle to find their place in Islam and
still be free to follow their own destinies.
Maryam Tabibzadeh was born in Darab,
Pars Iran . She received her Masters of
Computer Science from SUNY Binghamton in 1983
and is a computer programmer. She has written
nonfiction books about the lives of two
villages in Iran, 1974-1976. She has also
written several short stories and poems that
have been published in the Persian Newsletter
in Raleigh, NC.
Persian Dreams
Persian Dreams
By Maryam Tabibzadeh
Paperback, 6x9 in, 404 pages
Dream Books, April 2007
ISBN: 978-0-9794112-0-5
