In the area of Boysun, present-day Uzbekistan, there is a living and vivid oral tradition based on stories from the epic Shah-nama. Barzu, son of Suhrab, is tragically killed at the hands of his famous father, the legendary hero Rustam.

The storytellers Jura Kamol and Mullo Ravshan composed two different versions of the story of Barzu in the Tajik as spoken in this area. This is the first printed version including a translation of these stories to appear.

The stories have been transcribed and...

Persian passion play or ta`ziya depicts the role of the Prophets granddaughter Zeynab during the tragic death of the third Shiite Imam Hoseyn in Karbala in 680. This book depicts how Zeynab has become a role model in modern Iranian society, especially during the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War.

Mahnia A. Nematollahi Mahani worked as an editor at the Center for International Cultural Studies in Tehran, before she started her academic career in Persian Studies at Leiden University.

"For us non-Iranian readers of Hafiz's 14th-century ghazal poems, Iranian

attitudes toward the premier lyric poet in the 1,000-year history of Persian

literature, are almost as intriguing as Hafiz's poetry itself. First is the

inclination of Iranian readers to find deep, spiritual meaning in that poetry.

Second is their personal identification with what they perceive as Hafiz's

philosophy. Third is their linking of Iranian cultural identity with Hafiz's life and works to the point where some educa...