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The English translation and original Persian text of Little Black Fish is one of the most well known modern Persian children's story. Upon its original publication this story won prizes at the Bologna and Bratislava children's books fairs. On the surface this story is about a little black fish who wanders out of his neighborhood and encounters various adventures and dangers, which he overcomes. On a different level it can be read as the human journey from childhood to adulthood.

From Durham to Tehran presents a Persian literature specialist's impressions and reflections on his field of study and profession, based on two research trips, one to Durham, England in 1986 and the other to Tehran, Iran in 1989. With a format of travel diary entries, the book intends to suggest issues which American students of non-Western literary cultures face in their professional lives. It highlights ambiguities which characterize the situations and experiences of American students of living non-Western literatures. Moreover, it suggests that involvement in an older non-Western literary culture impels the American to reflection on his or her own roots and cultural history. It includes memories of many notable literary figures including Jalal Al-e Ahmad, Ali Shariati and Sadeq Chubak.

A Millennium of Classical Persian Poetry is designed to introduce students of Pesian to the richness of the classical poetic legacy. The Persian metrical system and poetic forms are explained, and selections are given from the works of all major poets, from Rudaki in the tenth century to Bahar in the twentieth, with annotations of difficult grammatical constructions and unfamiliar allusions. Highlights include poetry by Firdawsi, Farrukhi, Anvari, Khaqani, Nizami, Attar, Rumi, Sa'di, Hafiz, Jami, Sa'ib, and a host of lesser-known poets. A full Persian-English vocabulary is included.

Text in Persian.

The Eye of an Ant is a collection of 282 short epithets translated into English rhyme by Fatollah Akbar. Most of the sayings are traditional popular sayings. Poems from Rumi, Ferdowsi, Hafez, Sadi and Bahar are also included.

Mulla Nasreddin, as he is known the Persian speaking world, is a humorous witty character that goes by different names in different cultures. Iranians, Arabs and Turks still bicker about who he was and where he was from. Though Mulla Nasreddin originated in the Middle East half a millennia ago, the popularity of his stories is such that they have travelled and settled down in places as diverse as China, Russia, Sweden, India, Malaysia, the Balkans and Portugal. What can be said is that the Mulla is a universal character on which are framed various humorous, philosophical, moral or pedagogic anecdotes. The main players of these whimsical vignettes are the Mulla, his donkey and his wife. A Mulla Nasreddin anecdote is often used to emphasise a point. Most may read a funny story. However, in the same tale, a Sufi may see multiple strands of mystic meaning and a revolutionary will see the idea of resistance to authority. Depending on the reader and the time, Nasreddin may be more of a wise man, a jester, a rebel or a philosopher. The stories of the Mulla have passed by word of mouth from generation to generation for centuries, during which they have been added to, polished or changed with the period and circumstances. They were probably first written down some time in the nineteenth century. Here is a collection of 181 of the funniest and best known Mulla Nasreddin stories.

This is a study of the prose literature written in Persia since the end of the nineteenth century, and it is comprehensive and self contained. It begins with a historical survey of the whole range of Persian prose writing and includes a general account of the social and political background of the works.

Text in Persian. Story by well known novelist about Iranian immigrant women in Canada.

Concise Encyclopedia of the Middle East.

Language Reference. Middle-Eastern Studies. Syriac is the Aramaic dialect of Edessa, an important center of early Christianity in Mesopotamia. Today it is the classical tongue of the Nestorians and Chaldeans of Iran and Iraq and the liturgical language of the Jacobites of Eastern Anatolia and the Maronites of Greater Syria. Syriac literature flourished from the third century on and boasts of writers like Ephraem Syrus, Aphraates, Jacob of Sarug, John of Ephesus, Jacob of Edessa, and Barhebraeus. In this text the language is presented both in Syriac script, as it will always be seen, and in transcription, which is given so that the pronunciation of individual words and the structure of the language as a whole may be represented as clearly as possible. The majority of the sentences in the exercises-and all of the readings in the later lessons-are taken directly from the Peshitta, the standard Syriac translation of the Bible. For many of those whose interest in Syriac stems from Biblical studies or from the history of eastern Christianity, Syriac may be their first Semitic language. Every effort has been made in the presentation of the grammar to keep the Semitic structure of the language in the forefront and as clear as possible for those who have no previous experience with languages of that family. Wheeler M. Thackston is Professor of Persian and other Near East Languages at Harvard University, where he has taught Persian and Arabic for over twenty years.

Reza Saberi translates over 1,500 quatrains from more than one hundred Iranian poets since the tenth century. In addition to the quatrains of better known poets such as Hafez, Sa'di, Rumi and Khayyam many of the poets and their poems have been translated into English for the first time. A rub is a poem in four lines, which is complete in itself and expresses a single feeling or thought in a very concise and elegant language. Their subjects include divine love, the ecstasy of love, mystical knowledge, and the nature of life and existence. The tradition of sufism, the Irano-Islamic mysticism that advocates the oneness and wholeness of all things and the unity of existence (vahdate vjud), is conveyed in the majority of the poems. Reza Saberi has tried to be as faithful to the original text as is possible in English. His translation can be of special interest for speakers of Persian who try to communicate the sense of beauty of their poetry in the English language. The bilingual format is also very useful for students of Persian language and literature.

A work of fiction, most of Vale of Tears takes place in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, where the book's protagonist, Coralie, is trying to scrounge up enough money during the New Year holiday to pay her rent. Part of the book is set in France, where Coralie spent part of World War 2. Through 14 chapters that alternate between the present and past and seem to correspond with Christ's passion, the reader learns how Coralie's fortunes have changed steadily for the worse from childhood to middle age, beginning when she had to endure the spite of her step-mother, a woman who eventually stole her inheritance and separated Coralie from her only child. From being a beautiful light-skinned woman who was happily married and prosperous at one time, Coralie eventually finds herself being forced to sell herself and live apart from her only child, as her fortunes begin to get worse. In the end, she finds herself reduced to begging for money from family members and acquaintances and washing clothes for prostitutes.

SIMIN HABIBIAN has collected 1001 of the most well known Persian proverbs and has found the equivalent or similar of each in English. She has also included a literal translation of each proverb in English, to help the reader and so that the cultural similarities and differences can be seen.In addition, 1001 Persian-English Proverbs includes 111 more proverbs illustrated. The reader can guess which proverb it refers to. An answer key in the back tells the reader which proverb the illustration represents.The book is suited for those learning Persian (Farsi) and for second generation Iranian-Americans who wish to further expand their understanding of their mother language and culture. The reader who does not read or speak Persian will find it a pleasant read.

Contains over 10,000 verbs; Gives Persian and English equivalents; Will be of invaluable assistance to students of Persian at all levels. It is suitable for those taking a formal course of instruction as well as those teaching themselves; This volume satisfies the need for a modern study aid for students of the Persian language which has, so far, not been met by the currently available reference works.

Syriac is the Aramaic dialect of Edessa in Mesopotamia. Today it is the classical tongue of the Nestorians and Chaldeans of Iran and Iraq and the liturgical language of the Jacobites of Eastern Anatolia and the Maronites of Greater Syria. Syriac is also the language of the Church of St, Thomas on the Malabar Coast of India. Syriac belongs to the Levantine group of the central branch of the West Semitic languages. Syriac literature flourished from the third century on and boasts of writers like Ephraem Syrus, Aphraates, Jacob of Sarug, John of Ephesus, Jacob of Edessa, and Barhebraeus. After the Arab conquests, Syriac became the language of a tolerated but disenfranchised and diminishing community and began a long, slow decline both as a spoken tongue and as a literary medium in favour of Arabic. Syriac played an important role as the intermediary through which Greek learning passed to the Islamic world. Syriac translations also preserve much Middle Iranian wisdom literature that has been lost in the original. Here, the language is presented both in the Syriac script and in transcription, which is given so that the pronunciation of individual words and the structure of the language may be represented as clearly as possible. The majority of the sentences in the exercises -- and all of the readings in later lessons -- are taken directly from the P'itta, the Syriac translation of the Bible. Most students learn Syriac as an adjunct to biblical or theological studies and will be interested primarily in this text. Biblical passages also have the advantage of being familiar, to some degree or other, to most English-speaking students. For many of those whose interest in Syriac stems from Biblical studies or from the history of Eastern Christianity, Syriac may be their first Semitic language. Every effort has been made in the presentation of the grammar to keep the Semitic structure of the language in the forefront and as clear as possible for those who have no previous experience with languages of that family. Syriac is structurally perhaps the simplest of all the Semitic languages. A chart of correspondences among Arabic, Hebrew, and Syriac is given.

"Alethophobia" revolves around the life of the Iranian-born Professor Pirooz who lives mostly in his own imagination; he is everywhere and yet he is nowhere. He dissimulates and dissimulates, yet loses control of himself and speaks his mind -- in spite of his efforts -- at all costs. He is a whistle blower with a broken whistle and a broken heart and a broken existence. What is the use of being a Professor if you cannot profess and, worse yet, have to pay lip service to academic freedom in order not to be marginalised? "Alethophobia" is eventful, witty and insightful. It is a real story that appears as surreal. How could such events occur on a tranquil university campus in America? How could the love of a gorgeous policewoman and a wondering scientist take root and blossom in such inhospitable soil? The story has many stunning turns and twists inducing laughter and tears.

"Avicenna and I" is a love saga spanning here and the hereafter; it is a journey of spirits toward immortality. Together two lovers explore the city of Hamadan in north-west of Iran, one of the oldest residences of civilisation, where the tomb of one of history's most remarkable thinkers, Avicenna, lies. To ascend from what they are to what they dream to be, the lovers seek and find the spirit of Avicenna. From him-the prince of medicine and the leading wise man-they learn how to heal the body, the mind, the spirit and even love, and how to tend to a wounded nature. They discover the path to immortality. "Avicenna and I" strips history naked of its pretensions and shatters the myth of the East as a place of unreason-deserving to be subjugated by the West -- and establishes that the Italian Renaissance was merely a continuation of the Persian Renaissance which occurred in the Golden Era of Avicenna. In this unforgettable novel the future and the past recreate one another and set the present afire with passion for immortal wisdom, and immortal love and truth. The reader is invited to view the mind and the universe, intuition and reason, science and faith, and life and death with a profoundly new understanding. The trials and tribulations of the characters, even history, on their transcendental journey are recounted with a pen searching for the beginning and the end of everything -- for the answers God never created. So humans must invent the answers as we have invented many things God did not create. This novel is a chapter in the book of answers.

An Introduction to Persian is intended to serve as an introduction on the elementary level to the modern Persian language. Each lesson is provided with specific exercises and drills for the major grammatical and syntactical points introduced therein. Vocabulary are included at the end of each lesson are intended for active acquisition. Specialized supplementary vocabulary lists are also scattered throughout the book. In part two of the grammar, the outstanding differences between modern and classical usage are given. In part three the distinguishing features of ordinary colloquial Persian are given.

Text in English & Persian. Is the Gulistan the most influential book in the Iranian world? In terms of prose, it is the model, which all writers of Persian seek to emulate. In terms of moral, philosophical or practical wisdom, it is endlessly quoted to either illustrate or prove a point. Sir John Malcolm even relates being told that it is the basis of the law of the Persians. It also travelled abroad. Voltaire, Goethe, Arnold, Longfellow, Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, and Franklin discovered, read, and took inspiration from the work. Moreover, travelers to Iran have often point out that to understand the mind of the inhabitants, one should read the Gulistan. Written some seven and a half centuries ago by Sa'di of Shiraz the Gulistan or Rose Garden is a collection of moral stories divided into eight themes: "The Conduct of Kings", "The Character of Dervishes", "The Superiority of Contentment", "The Benefits of Silence", "Love and Youth", "Feebleness and Old Age", "The Effects of Education", and "The Art of Conversation." In each section stories are told from which the reader learns how to behave in a given situation. Sa'di can be moral. "Honesty gives God pleasure. I haven't seen anyone get lost on the right road." He may be practical. "If you can't stand the sting, don't put your finger into a scorpion's hole." He is philosophical in these lines which are engraved at the entrance of the United Nations: "The members of the human race are limbs one to another, for at creation they were of one essence. When one limb is pained by fate, the others cannot rest." The Gulistan is considered the essence of elegant but simple Persian prose. For 600 years, it was the first book placed in the learner's hand. In Persian-speaking countries today, quotations from the Gulistan appear in every conceivable type of literature and is the source of numerous everyday proverbial statements, much as Shakespeare is in English. This is the first complete English translation of the Gulistan in more than a century. Wheeler M. Thackston, Professor of Persian at Harvard University, has faithfully translated Sa'di into clear contemporary English. To help the student, the original Persian is presented facing the English translation. A 3,600 word Persian-English and Arabic-English glossary is included to aide with the more difficult meanings. The Gulistan is imbued with a practical wisdom of life. Sa'di recognizes people for what they are. Every personality type that exists is found in the Rose Garden, the good, the bad, the weak, the strong, the pious, the impious, honest folk, and the most conniving of cheats. Hypocrites abound, foolish kings appear with their wily ministers, wise rulers vie with their malevolent courtiers, boastful young warriors turn tail and run. The beauty of Sa'di's wisdom is that it is timeless. What is expressed is in a setting so close and familiar to the modern experience that it is as relevant today as it was six hundred years ago.