Saved by Beauty - Adventures of an American Romantic in Iran

Zusatztext "Both readers new to Housden and fans of his poetry will treasure this memorable account of what may be a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Even better! his insights are also sure to inform and maybe even re-form preconceived notions many hold about Iran. It is impossible not to lose oneself in Housden's many-faceted narrative." — Booklist ! starred review "A lyrical panorama of contemporary Persian politics and culture! this book gives contour and nuance to our idea of Iran! and introduces us to complex! very memorable characters." — Publishers Weekly! starred review “ The eloquent account of a Western poet’s encounters with the land! culture and people of Iran...soulful and uplifting.”— Kirkus Reviews “Moving…Ardently pursuing his personal pilgrim’s path! Housden composes a poignant picture-puzzle of modern Iran.” – National Geographic Traveler   Informationen zum Autor Roger Housden Klappentext When Roger Housden decided to travel to Iran and finally see the subject of his youthful fascination, he was in his sixties. By then, he thought he had seen the world. He was wrong. It was a quest that changed him forever. In Iran, Housden met with artists, writers, film makers and religious scholars who embody the long Iranian tradition of humanism, and shared with him their belief in scholarship and artistry. From the bustle of modern Tehran to the paradise gardens of Shiraz to the spectacular mosques and ancient palaces of Isfahan, Housden met Iranians who were warm, welcoming, generous, intellectually curious, and altogether alive with their love for one another, and for the faith and tradition that holds them together. Saved by Beauty weaves a richly textured story of many threads. It is a deeply poetic and perceptive appreciation of a culture that has endured for over three thousand years, while it also portrays the creative and spiritual cultures within contemporary Iran. While there, Roger Housden was brought face to face with the reality that beauty and truth, deceit and violence, are inextricably mingled in the affairs of human life, and was forever altered by it. Chapter 1 Writing Iran The inner—what is it? If not intensified sky, hurled through with birds And deep with the winds of homecoming. —Rainer Maria Rilke Whenever I think of the color blue, I think first not of the sea or the sky, but of a dome. A dome in Isfahan, Iran. It lodged itself in my mind some thirty-five years ago, one gray afternoon in the British Library, that beautiful building, itself a dome, which at the time housed a few million books and manuscripts on every subject known to man. Oblivious of the scholars shuffling to and fro around me, I gazed for the longest time at a full-color plate of the dome of the Royal Mosque in Isfahan. Its perfection of shape and its blue never left me. It prompted me from that time on to marvel at domes, to appreciate their sensuous precision with a fresh eye, and to love that turquoise blue with a single-mindedness that has dominated my wardrobe and my wall hangings for a lifetime. It was my Iran phase. Around the same time, I discovered Iranian music and poetry. While my peers were listening to the Stones and Bob Dylan, I would be poring over the Iranian music section of some esoteric record store in London, looking for ethnic folk music or the music of the Sufis, the mystical brotherhoods of Islam. Or I would be in the Middle Eastern Bookshop on Museum Street, looking for translations of the great Iranian Sufi poets, Rumi and Hafez. That music, those poems, had a visceral effect on me. They would bring me down into myself, into my body and the rhythms of my blood: another kind of heart murmur, you might say. It made for a potent brew; a jumble of feelings and images that somehow conjured the fantasy of a culture that was both sensuous and ...

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Roger Housden
• Editore: Crown Publishing Group
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Tascabile
• Pubblicazione: 13.11.2012
• EAN: 9780307587749
• ISBN: 978-0-307-58774-9
• Pagine: 290
• Dimensioni: 132 mm x 204 mm x 17 mm
• Categorie: Saggistica; Viaggi > Guide turistiche > Vicino Oriente