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Chargement... Drinking Arak Off an Ayatollah's Beard: A Journey Through the Inside-Out Worlds of Iran and Afghanistanpar Nicholas Jubber
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Documents the author's investigation of daily life in Iran and Afghanistan, from religious shrines to illegal dance parties, and his use of Ferdowsi's epic poem "Sha?hna?meh" as a key to past and present conflict in the region. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)915.504History and Geography Geography and Travel Geography of and travel in Asia IranClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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However, Jubber's execution of the book does not live up to its promise. He intersperses a soap opera-esque story about the family he stayed with in Iran throughout much of the book, which I found jarring and not very engaging. The history he provides, although interesting, lacks a strong foundation in Jubber's deeper understanding of the cultural history of the region. As a result, his analysis is limited to surface-level observations about the apparent ubiquity of the Shahnameh in the region. Similarly, he could have benefited from a deeper understanding of the role of myth and narrative in human culture and belief. In addition, he chose to forego a chronological organization for the book, and while I usually like to see writers experiment with structure, in Jubber's case the book's organization seemed haphazard. His writing also often seemed quite pedestrian, which brought me crashing back down to earth after the glorious heights of some of the passages he quoted. Finally, one scene towards the end of the book, which was supposed to be a climactic showdown between Jubber and the sultan who cheated Ferdowsi out of his promised reward for composing the Shahnameh, struck me as rather silly.
I appreciate the book for what I learned about Ferdowsi, and I now plan to read the Shahnameh in translation, and on that basis I am rating the book at a weak three stars. I just wish that Jubber had written a book that lived up to the importance of its subject.
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