Iraj Pezeshkzad

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Iraj Pezeshkzad
Dā'i Jān Napoleon
Political partyNational Resistance Movement
Parent(s)Hossein Pezeshkzad
Fekri Ershad
RelativesMoayed-ol Mamalek Fekri Ershad (grandfather)

Iraj Pezeshkzad (

Dā'i Jān Napoleon
(Dear Uncle Napoleon, translated as My Uncle Napoleon) published in the early 1970s.

Life and career

Pezeshkzad was born in

National Movement of Iranian Resistance against the Islamic regime established in Iran.[2] He wrote many political books for the party (example: "Moroori bar vagheye 15 khordad 42, az entesharat e nehzat e moghavemat e melli e Iran, Iraj Pezeshkzad"). Pezeshkzad later lived in Paris, where he worked as a journalist. He died on 12 January 2022, at the age of 94, while visiting family in Los Angeles.[3]

Literary works

Pezeshkzad began writing in the early 1950s by translating the works of

Russian Revolution
.

His last novel was Khanevade-ye Nik-Akhtar (The Nik-Akhtar Family). He then published his autobiography titled Golgashtha-ye Zendegi (The Pleasure Grounds of Life).

My Uncle Napoleon

Pezeshkzad's most famous work My Uncle Napoleon, was published in 1973 and earned him national acclaim and was accoladed by Iranian and international critics alike as a cultural phenomenon. It is a social satire and a masterpiece of contemporary Persian literature. The story is set in a garden in Tehran in the early 1940s at the onset of the

Second World War
, where three families live under the tyranny of a paranoid patriarch nicknamed Dear Uncle Napoleon.

The book was turned into a highly successful television series soon after its publication and immediately captured the imagination of the whole nation. Its story became a cultural reference point and its characters national icons. The book has been translated to English by Dick Davis as well as a number of other languages including French, German, Russian, Norwegian, and Estonian.

Literary critics of the English-speaking world have given it rave reviews. The Plain Dealer asserted in its praise of the book that My Uncle Napoleon "... may do more to improve U.S.-Iranian relations than a generation of shuttle diplomats and national apologies,"[5] and The Washington Post claimed that "Pezeshkzad, like any other author of substance, transcends his cultural boundaries".[5]

Azar Nafisi, Iranian writer and academic, claims in her introduction to the 2006 English edition of the work that "My Uncle Napoleon is in many ways a refutation of the grim and hysterical images of Iran that have dominated the Western world for almost three decades. On so many different levels this novel represents Iran's confiscated and muted voices, revealing a culture filled with a deep sense of irony and humor, as well as sensuality and tenderness".[6]

Personal life

Pezeshkzad married Mahin Chaybani in Iran; she died in 1979. Their one son, Bahman Pezeshkzad, is an artist based in Paris.[7]

Although Pezeshkzad longed to return to Iran after leaving in 1979, he never did.[7]

References

  1. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  2. on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  3. ^ "ایرج پزشک‌زاد نویسنده رمان دایی جان ناپلئون درگذشت". BBC Persian. 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  4. S2CID 145067513
    .
  5. ^ a b "Iranian Persian ebook - My Uncle Napoleon: A Comic Novel". Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  6. ^ Introduction to My Uncle Napoleon by Azar Nafisi, The Modern Library Palang-faack Edition, 2006.
  7. ^ a b Iraj Pezeshkzad The New York Times [dead link]

External links