Anthology Strange Times, My Dear

A collection of work from modern Iranian writers--including short stories, novel excerpts, and poetry--offers an all-too-brief look at the literature and culture of a country whose cultural contributions have been forgotten and ignored since the Iranian revolution in 1979.

Comment: I saw this book at the library and since I had no specific title to request, thought to myself, why not, and brought it with me.

In this small anthology we have a collection of short stories by Iranian authors. 

I had no idea about what to expect, only that the book would include authors who had been publishing things before the 1979 Revolution and authors who only started after. The edition I've read is a Portuguese one, which includes a very informative introductory note which was probably as interesting to read as the texts themselves.

However, I must say I was surprised when I checked the book on GR for the purpose of this small commentary. The original book, titled Strange Times, My Dear in English, seems to have practically 500 pages and the Portuguese one only has 219. Reading some descriptions and even some reviews leads me to conclude the Portuguese edition does not include the whole amount of texts, I am assuming due to legal issues or the impossibility to translate the whole text. Why, I have no idea, but this is certainly a let down. It seems odd there is no reference to the cut in texts nor why it had to be so if there is a valid/legal reason...

Portuguese edition

The texts this edition contains include work by twelve authors. All of them have in common that their texts somehow hint at or include some taboo theme in the eyes of the government of Iran, and many are metaphors about some political or social commentary. As always, some texts were more appealing than others, but all were intriguing and gave me food for thought.

Some texts were very direct and easy to give a context to, others were a bigger struggle and not just the ones with magical realism or with the metaphors for whatever hidden message it was meant to convey. To me, the most interesting texts were the ones where I could actually follow the ideas and see the why of those things were included. It is a pity authors from Iran aren't more known or that their work isn't as widespread or made available, because their culture is certainly rich and varied.

The introductory note was very useful for it gave a context for the anthology and why it was published, why the authors in question and why they represent the contemporary literature in Iran. It seems the original anthology included more texts and even poetry, which the Portuguese edition doesn't not contain, and this can seem unfair, but in terms of style and content, the texts used were intriguing, like I've said. I would try to read more by these authors if their work were to be made accessible.

Grade: 7/10