Daneshvar's Playhouse — Simin Daneshvar

In this rich collection of short stories, Daneshvar captures the essence of a rich traditional culture undergoing change: A child lost in a bazaar, a young woman who forsakes her husband, children, and home just to own a car, a traditional theater where the play and the players act on many levels, a colonel's allegience passing from the Shah to Khomeini, an old woman's memories, and a moving chronicle of the final days of Jalal Al-e Ahmad, the author's husband. Simin Daneshvar draws from over a thousand years of Persian storytelling tradition and combines this with modern techniques of short fiction and cinema. The result is both entertaining and a key of uncompromising honesty, rich detail, and a dazzling range of voices that guides the reader into the center of a complex society and its concerns.