Description
Book SynopsisThis magical collection of stories, gathered from the rich treasury of Persian folk and fairytales, tells of love and longing, fate and human ingenuity, loss and grace. Although sources of these tales have been lost over the ages, their memory runs through the collective psyche of the Iranian people. Handed down through generations, told by professional storytellers in bazaars and gatherings, these tales have been made popular the world over by great poets such as Rumi and Firdowsi. At the same time, beneath these charmed narratives, they reflect deep cultural and psychological insights into the attitudes, values and structures which constitute Iranian society. In her own unique voice - with style, charm and humour - Shusha Guppy narrates these timeless fables of princes and princesses; dervishes and miracle-working saints; jinns and giants; flame-breathing dragons and winged horses; sorcerers and magicians.
Trade Review'Somehow she puts you in touch with the ancient experience of a whole people... the real river of souls and physical ritual history which is the genius of Persia.' - Ted Hughes; 'She writes with a fluency and charm that seem to come as naturally as breathing.' - Patrick Leigh Fermor; 'Each tale of wonder and adventure is retold with practice and polish, displaying a natural storyteller's inventive ability to interweave versions in pursuit of the perfect tapestry. Guppy's versions, rich in texture and expansive in form, manage to compress a hundred Persian nights of leisurely storytelling into a few pages.' - Aamer Hussein, Independent; 'A bewitching collection of folk tales revealing a wonderfully rich culture. In contrast to the current, desperately limited portrait of Islam in the media, It's a surprisingly sensual collection, revealing a strongly female-centred society. All in all, this is remarkably subversive for a book of fairy stories.' - John Williams, Mail on Sunday; 'Guppy heard these tales in her childhood, has carried the memory of them around the cities of Europe, telling them to children, embellishing them with details and wisdom of her own, and now writing them down in polished versions that are models of narrative clarity. Cheerful and heartwarming. A pleasure to read.' - Roger Scruton, The Times; 'Charming and digressive, they [the Stories] are full of sorcery, love affairs and tyrants who are thwarted by clever, resourceful women.' - Financial Times Magazine; 'A delightful read. The Secret of Laughter allows us to witness the ability of literature to preserve a culture...' - Times Higher Education Supplement; 'She makes you live moments of real enchantment. . freshness, delicacy, intensity.' - Nathalie Sarraute; 'A more charming, alluring and unique book will not be published this - or any other - year...The Secret of Laughter is regrettably brief but repeatedly memorable.' - Douglas Murray, author of Bosie: A Biography of Lord Alfred Douglas; 'Well-remembered and beautifully written...vivid description...wonderful moral tale...exotic book.' - Loose Ends, BBC Radio 4; 'Here is Shusha Guppy doing what she does so well - recreating and so preserving, for English-reading audiences, the bewitching worlds of Persian folklore and fairy tales which continue to engage young and old alike.' - Eastern Art Report
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Foreword The Padishah and His Three Daughters The Thief and the Cunning Bride The Talking Skull The Magic Saucepan and the Piece of Lamb's Tail Haroon al-Rashid's Favourite Concubine The Secret of Laughter The King and the Prophet Khizr The Cruel Mother-in-Law The Lazy Wife The Man Whose Luck Had Gone to Sleep I Know That Already The Good Vizir and His Pride The Laughing Scarecrow The Good Young Man and the Heavenly Woman The Thorn-Seller and the Bird of Paradise Soltan Mahmoud and the Band of Robbers The Fortune-Teller's Fortune The Story of Bijan and Manijeh
Notes List of Persian Words
