An Exhibition of its Kind
Due to heavy censorship in Iran, there are many books each year that don’t get approval to be published (Yes, you need to get approval on content from authorities to publish your book and just market demand is not enough to publish a book). So, recently, there was an exhibition in Tehran of books that never got published! Of course, only one copy of each book was available!
It reminded me a short story that grandmas tell the kids in some places around Shiraz, south of Iran:
There was a king who did NOT have three sons; Two of those sons died and the other one had no life. One day, one of those who was dead took a horse who had no legs, took a gun that had no pipe, and got in a way that had no end. On his way, he saw a gazelle who had no body and used his gun to hunt the gazelle. Then he went and went until reached three houses, two of them were destroyed and the other didn’t have roof; There was a fireplace in the one without roof, but fireplace had no wall and there was a pot that didn’t have bottom. The prince cooked the gazelle, ate it and felt thirsty; He went again and reached a river that had no water and started drinking and never took his head off. That was our story!
PS1. Who needs magical realism literature?! We are living it already!
PS2. Shiraz is the name of the town whose grape was taken to Australia and famous Shiraz wine has gotten its name from it.