The Little Black Fish and Other Modern Persian Stories

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Book Self Description

Samad Behrangi (1939-1968) was born in Tabriz, in the Azarbayjan Province of Iran. In 1957 he began teaching in the rural villages of his native province and, realizing that the educational books and methods prevalent at that time were outdated and inappropriate, attempted to create a body of work which would touch the lives of the village children, and allow them to better understand the conditions in which they lived. Samad Behrangi wished to bridge the gap between the rural poor and the wealthy city-dwellers and land-owners. He urged his readers to learn about the lives of all Iranians by visiting “villages and towns” and associating with “all kinds of people.” His short stories, five of which are translated in this collection, deal with powerless individuals who not only share the poverty of their parents, but must struggle to survive physically and mentally in a society which has long ignored their vulnerable natures. His style and vocabulary, innovations in themselves, reflect everyday speech. And because he did not believe that young people should be protected from knowledge of the harsh realities of life, he told stories with real pain, coarseness, and at times cruelty. Behrangi's stories are about and for children: they are also thinly-coded protests against mass poverty and ignorance.