'This book is an extraordinarily powerful and evocative literary novel set in Iran in the period immediately after the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Using the lyrical magic realism style of classical Persian storytelling, Azar draws the reader deep into the heart of a family caught in the maelstrom of post-revolutionary chaos and brutality that sweeps across an ancient land and its people.
'The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree is really an embodiment of Iranian life in constant oscillation, struggle and play between four opposing poles: life and death; politics and religion. The sorrow residing in the depths of our joy is the product of a life between these four poles.' (Publication summary)
Dedication: Dedicated to all those I know : dead and alive.
'I read a lot of books in my job. And over the last several years, I've noticed an intriguing trend. Trees are popping up everywhere.'
'Shokoofeh Azar moved to Australia as a political refugee in 2010. Her novel The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, originally written in Farsi, was shortlisted for Australia's 2018 Stella Prize for Fiction and the 2020 International Booker Prize. Here she recalls her refugee journey from Iran to Christmas Island and reveals why Iranians continue migrating to Australia, despite the absence of war.' (Introduction)
'In 2011 the writer Shokoofeh Azar found herself in a strange country, with a strange dilemma.'
'If this book were a painting, the canvas would be too large to fit into a gallery.'
'Persia was the centre of some mighty dynasties over the millennia, including the far-flung Achaemenid Empire that Cyrus the Great established in the 6th century BC. It wasn’t until Muslim Arabs defeated a later Persian dynasty, the Sassanians, in AD 651, that Persians were forced to adopt Islam and abandon their fiery state religion, Zoroastrianism.
'As in all conquests that force cultural change, it wasn’t entirely successful. The Persians bitterly resented their new overlords and pockets of Zoroastrianism remain today, though followers are now estimated at fewer than 190,000 worldwide. Yet it was the Persians, long a highly literate people, who codified Arabic grammar and made the language the cornerstone of classical Islamic culture.' (Introduction)
'Shokoofeh Azar is shortlisted for the 2018 Stella Prize for her novel The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree. In this special Stella interview, Shokoofeh shares the experiences that informed the novel, the writers that inspire her work and how writing is a means of resistance.' (Introduction)
'Six years ago, The Stella Prize burst onto the Australian literary scene with an air of urgency. The A$50,000 award was the progeny of the Stella Count – a campaign highlighting the under-representation of women authors in book reviews and awards lists. In the years since, the prize has challenged the gendered ways in which we think about “significance” and “seriousness” in literature.' (Introduction)
'With today’s announcement of the winner of the Man Booker International Prize shortlist, translation again finds itself in the foreground of the literary landscape. This year’s shortlist includes novels translated from a diverse array of languages including Arabic (Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi), Hungarian (László Krasznahorkai’s The World Goes On) and Korean (The White Book by Han Kang).' (Introduction)
