Writing before and since the Iranian Revolution, Goli Taraghi publishes both in Iran and abroad. In this collection of stories, she poignantly describes her childhood in Tehran and portrays the experience of exile with her family. She was one of the first Iranian women to receive critical recognition as well as popularity for her short stories and novels. Although Taraghi avoids sensational experimentation, her narratives sparkle with a freshness of style and sensitivity. Whether she writes of a child tip-toeing through a room of delicate Persian furnishings or of a grandmother remembering those treasured lost objects, the room becomes alive for the reader. Taraghi rejects a political stance in her writings, but, at the same time, she comments with understated humor and wisdom on the social and cultural value system of her characters. After Taraghi left the patriarchal society of post-revolutionary Iran, she proceeded to make her work more autobiographical. Several of the stories in this collection deal with the acculturation process of moving after experiencing the heartbreak of uprooting and displacement. As a whole, these recent stories demonstrate a trend in which Taraghi views her creative self unflinchingly as feminine. Her work becomes richer and more complex as a result of this transformation. Translator Faridoun Farrokh gives the stories context and critical insight in an excellent introduction. He presents an easy-reading translation without losing the delightful Persian flavor of Taraghi's words.

A Mansion in the Sky: And Other Short Stories (CMES Modern Middle East Literatures in Translation)

Literature & Fiction

Taraghi, Goli

Short Stories & Anthologies

Center for Middle Eastern Studies, The University of Texas at Austin

“Filled with passion, curiosity, empathy, as well as mischief―definitely mischief.”―Azar Nafisi Rich in characters both whimsical and deeply poignant, humorous and real, the stories of Goli Taraghi have made her one of the world’s most beloved contemporary writers from Iran. A best-selling author in her native country and widely anthologized in the United States and around the world, Taraghi's work is now made fully accessible to an English-speaking audience in this standout and long-awaited volume of selected stories, selected as a Best Book of 2013 by staff and critics at National Public Radio. Drawing on childhood experiences in Tehran during the reign of the Shah, her exile in Paris, and her subsequent visits to Tehran after the revolution, Taraghi develops characters and tales that linger in one’s mind. In the title story, a woman traveling from Tehran to Paris is obliged to help an old woman―the Pomegranate Lady―find her way to her fugitive sons in Sweden. In "The Gentleman Thief," a new kind of polite, apologetic thief emerges from the wreckage of the revolution. In "Encounter," a woman's world is upended when her former maid becomes her jailer. And in "The Flowers of Shiraz," a group of teenagers finally manages to coax a shy schoolmate out of her shell―only to once again encounter tragedy.
Reminiscent of the work of Nadine Gordimer and Eudora Welty, Taraghi's stories capture universal experiences of love, loss, alienation, and belonging―all with an irresistible sense of life’s absurdities.

The Pomegranate Lady and Her Sons: Selected Stories

United States

W.W.Norton&Company

“Carries the flavor of the old world, its underlying ferocity leavened by a lyrical mysticism. . . . Her prose is transcendent.”―Washington Post Rich in characters both whimsical and deeply poignant, humorous and real, the stories of Goli Taraghi have made her one of the world’s most beloved contemporary writers from Iran. A best-selling author in her native country and widely anthologized in the United States and around the world, Taraghi's work is now made fully accessible to an English-speaking audience in this standout and long-awaited volume of selected stories, selected as a Best Book of 2013 by staff and critics at National Public Radio. Drawing on childhood experiences in Tehran during the reign of the Shah, her exile in Paris, and her subsequent visits to Tehran after the revolution, Taraghi develops characters and tales that linger in one’s mind. In the title story, a woman traveling from Tehran to Paris is obliged to help an old woman―the Pomegranate Lady―find her way to her fugitive sons in Sweden. In "The Gentleman Thief," a new kind of polite, apologetic thief emerges from the wreckage of the revolution. In "Encounter," a woman's world is upended when her former maid becomes her jailer. And in "The Flowers of Shiraz," a group of teenagers finally manages to coax a shy schoolmate out of her shell―only to once again encounter tragedy.
Reminiscent of the work of Nadine Gordimer and Eudora Welty, Taraghi's stories capture universal experiences of love, loss, alienation, and belonging―all with an irresistible sense of life’s absurdities.

Literary

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Books by Taraghi, Goli

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Taraghi, Goli. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A Mansion in the Sky: And Other Short Stories (CMES Modern Middle East Literatures in Translation)

The Pomegranate Lady and Her Sons: Selected Stories

The Pomegranate Lady and Her Sons: Selected Stories