Procedente de una humilde familia de Ispahán, Hadjí Babá alcanza una envidiable posición en el entorno del sha. Ingenuo y malévolo al mismo tiempo, a veces honesto, casi siempre enamorado, tales son los rasgos que mejor definen a este maravilloso personaje que ejerció de aguador, verdugo, buhonero, médico, alcahuete, hombre de religión, respetable vendedor, y confidente de un visir, antes de alcanzar el éxito profesional y social en la corte del sha de Persia.

Wonderful magnificent spectacular view into a foreign world and time ( )

This book, first published in 1824, was something of an international scandal. The author, James Morier, was born in Izmir, in the Ottoman Empire to naturalized British citizens. He spent a few years traveling in Persia with diplomatic missions, and accompanied the Persian diplomat Abu'l-Hasan to Britain. He wrote about his travels, and then wrote this novel and its sequel, The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan in England. Abu'l-Hasan, who is supposed to be the inspiration for Mirza Firouz, was quite upset by the novels, as was Hajji Baba, a Persian who studied medicine in England and apparently never forgave Morier for using his name.

In 1895, an edition was published with a foreword by George Curzon who praised the books and said of them [...] I believe that the future diplomatist or traveller who visited Persia, or the scholar who explored it form a distance, would from their pages derive more exact information about Persian manners, and acquire a surer insight into Persian character, than he would gain from years of independent study or months of local residence.'

Seriously?

With all due respect to Curzon, even at the time, I would be reluctant to trust so much to picaresque novels with all their satire and cynicism, even if Morier got all the local color right. Particularly when it was written more than 70 years before. More than a century later, of course, Persia is now Iran, the Shahs are gone, and I would urge people to read it for the fun of it. Just think of it as taking place in an imaginary country; I also do this with Anna and the King of Siam, another enjoyable novel that should not be confused with history.

The story is cast as a manuscript, written by Hajji Baba, which he fears to take back with him to Persia after his adventures in England. He entrusts it to one Peregrine Persic, who is sending the translation to the chaplain of the Swedish Embassy at the Ottoman Porte. Hajji Baba is a barber, working with his father in Ispahan, when his yen for adventure leads him to take service with a merchant, Osman Aga, and he is off on wild and woolly series of events sometimes tragic, generally dramatic, and often funny. He is taken captive by nomads, nearly executed a few times, rises in favor at court, and then falls, but always manages to regain his footing and be off on new adventures. ( )