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Now in her seventies, Roya Archer has been living in New England with her husband, Walter, for 50 years. A trip to buy stationery has suddenly and overwhelmingly brought back memories of her youth in Tehran. Inspired by this experience, she makes an appointment to see her former love, Bahman, in the assisted living facility where he is now a resident.
Roya receives a surprisingly warm welcome to the facility from Claire Becker, the assistant administrator, who tells Roya that Bahman has spoken of her a great deal. When she approaches Bahman, who is in a wheelchair, he smiles and tells her he has been waiting for her visit. Suddenly feeling very tired and conscious of her age, Roya retorts, “all I’ve wanted to ask you is why on earth you didn’t wait last time” (9).
The narrative shifts back to Roya’s adolescence in Tehran. As she and her sister, Zari, eat breakfast, their progressive father, who is a strong believer in education, holds forth about his ambitions for them. Roya’s family are staunch supporters of the prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh. Roya’s father is absolutely confident that Mossadegh will succeed in liberating his country from imperialist exploitation and lead them to full democracy, but his daughters are more doubtful.
As the sisters walk to school, Roya sees campaign flyers for Mossadegh scattered on the ground and gathers them up as she cannot bear to see the prime minister’s face being trampled underfoot. Zari responds that there is no hope of saving Mossadegh because he is outnumbered by the Communist and royalist factions. Roya reflects on how political conflicts dominate day-to-day life even at school, where one of her classmates, Jaleb Tabatabayi, was soaked with a powerhose by police after handing out Communist pamphlets.
Seeking refuge from a Communist demonstration one afternoon, Roya stops at the Stationery Shop, her “favorite place in all of Tehran” (17). Mr. Fakhri’s shop doubles as a bookstore, selling Persian classics and translations of literature from all over the world. Mr. Fakhri offers her a collection of poems by the 13th-century Persian poet, Rumi. As she is preparing to pay, a boy of her own age rushes into the shop and is served in a respectful, deferential manner by Mr. Fakhri. When Roya asks him about the boy, Fakhri responds that his name is Bahman Aslan and he “wants to change the world” (20).
Roya is struck by the boy and looks for him over the following days. She eventually sees him again in the stationery shop, where Mr. Fakhri sells him the same volume of poems that she herself had purchased. When she sees Bahman a third time, the two finally speak, with Bahman supplying the word following the stanza she has just quoted, “fire.”
The chapter ends back in New England. With Roya riding away in a car, seeking to focus on her husband and the dinner they are about to enjoy together. Despite herself, she finds the words of a note from Bahman, fixing a meeting on Sepah Square, echoing in her mind.
Roya returns to the Stationery Shop regularly every Tuesday in order to see Bahman, although the two remain distant and shy with each other. The seventh Tuesday is the Persian New Year and the shop is full. As the crowds finally die down, only Bahman and Roya remain in the shop. Bahman offers to watch the store while Mr. Fakhri delivers the takings to the bank.
Observing Mr. Fakhri’s worried glances and anxious to avoid any appearance of impropriety that might result from staying alone with Bahman, Roya prepares to leave, but Bahman calls her back. He tells her that he has been observing her on Tuesdays and has noted her passion for novels. When he asks her what she wishes to do with her future, he repeatedly rejects her answers that parrot her parents’ ambitions, arguing that she should pursue her own passions. He also expresses his support for Mossadegh and his worry that the prime minister will soon be overthrown by foreign or internal forces.
As her love for Bahman grows, Roya learns that he is distributing pro-Mossadegh pamphlets supplied by Mr. Fakhri—a dangerous pastime given the increasingly volatile political climate.
In spite of her anxiety about appearances, Bahman convinces Roya to come out for a walk with him. They come across a large, pro-Mossadegh demonstration. Bahman immediately joins the protest and is greeted with warmth and respect by those present. Roya feels proud to be at his side as he expresses his ambition for the future and explains that his aim in bringing her there was to dispel her mistrust of, and distaste for, protests of this kind.
Bahman’s optimistic speech is cut short when he is suddenly struck across the back of his neck with a jagged chain. A group of dark-clad men in bowler hats stand smirking behind him and tell him that he should take this as a warning to desist in his political activities. When Roya exhorts Bahman to go to the police, he responds that his attackers are police officers, employed by the shah.
A friend of Bahman’s, Jahangir, arrives and accompanies him to a clinic for medical attention. Bahman expresses his regret at having put Roya in such a dangerous situation and she reflects that his fear for her safety was probably one of the reasons why he did not retaliate against his attackers.
Roya and Bahman do not see each other for two weeks because all shops and businesses are closed for Nowruz, the Persian New Year. When Roya hurries to the stationery shop on the first Tuesday after the holidays, she finds Bahman there waiting for her and is shocked and angered to see the stitches on the back of his neck. He gives her a notebook, into which he has transcribed a verse by Rumi, as a New Year’s present.
Bahman invites Roya to walk with him again. They see an elderly woman, dressed in red, waiting at the fountain on Baharestan Square. Bahman tells Roya that the woman has been waiting at the same spot for years for a lover who has never come.
Bahman takes Roya to Café Ghanadi, where they eat pastries (an “elephant’s ear” for Roya and a “tongue” for Bahman) and drink Italian espresso (called “shir ghaesh”).
Roya leaves the café ebullient and full of hope and confidence, but Zari is discouraging, arguing that “political types” are unreliable and she should not expect to marry Bahman.
As summer approaches, Bahman and Roya go to see Vittorio De Sica’s The Bicycle Thief at the Cinema Metropole and comment on its relevance to the current situation in Iran. They continue to see each other regularly, with Bahman attending social get-togethers that Roya and Zari organize in their home.
Bahman proposes to Roya, she accepts and they kiss for the first time. He asks for her parents’ permission and they agree, even though he plans to start working for a pro-Mossadegh newspaper after graduating from high school. Contrary to convention, his parents do not accompany him to Roya’s house because his mother is unwell. Zari remains skeptical and notes that Bahman’s mother was rude and unfriendly when Roya went to meet her.
A few days later, Roya and Bahman are drinking coffee at the Café Ghanadi when Roya notices a girl staring at them. Bahman confesses that this is Shahla, the girl his mother wishes him to marry. Roya is angry that this is the first she is hearing about the situation, but Bahman insists that he has feelings only for her and kisses her, publicly, on the cheek. Shahla hurries away.
The non-sequential chronology of the novel reflects the workings of Roya’s memory and consciousness, introducing the theme of The Nature of Memory and Loss. The brief opening sequence is followed by hundreds of pages of flashback. The subjective, relative nature of memory is also reflected in the uneven distribution of its five sections. Part 1 focuses primarily on the events of a single year, 1953, but takes up almost half of the book. The remaining sections often cover longer historical periods but are far shorter.
The time frame of the narrative, shifting backward and forward between 2013 and 1953, reflects the novel’s preoccupation with fate and free will. Roya is confident that she and Bahman are destined to be together, and Mr. Fakhri is convinced that Bahman is destined to change the world, yet the opening sequence of the narrative makes it clear that neither of these predictions have been realized. The novel will investigate the forces at work in bringing about this disjunction between expectations and reality.
The passage of time is marked through the changing of the seasons. The love between Bahman and Roya blossoms at the Persian New Year, which marks the beginning of Spring and will represent an important recurring motif throughout the novel. The symbolic contrast between the snowy winter of New England where the elderly Bahman and Roya are reunited and the poetical descriptions of their youthful walks in Tehran in the Spring could not be more pronounced, reflecting not only the passage of time but forming a stark contrast between the “springtime” of their youth and the “winter” of their declining years.
The youthful blooming of Bahman and Roya’s love is paralleled in the optimism and idealism surrounding Mossadegh’s government and Iran’s fledgling democracy, invoking The Ties Between the Personal and Political. In both cases, the oncoming disaster is foreshadowed in the opening chapters. Roya’s futile gesture in seeking to save Mossadegh’s image from being trampled underfoot in Chapter 2 prefigures the futility of the whole political movement once powerful international actors come into play. Similarly, the jilted lady perennially awaiting her lover on the square anticipates the fates of Roya and Bahman.
The personal destinies of Roya and Bahman thus ultimately prove to be inextricably tied up with the political destiny of their country, even though Roya is initially attracted to their meeting place, the Stationery Shop, as a haven removed from her country’s politics in which she can immerse herself in literature, often concentrating on foreign texts. This vision of literature as somehow removed from political realities is mirrored in the attitude of her family, who do not consider literary scholarship or authorship sufficiently “serious” for their daughter and wish for her to pursue a career in science. Roya soon learns, however, that the Stationery Shop is also a hub of political activism.
Moreover, Roya and Bahman’s response to Sica’s The Bicycle Thief illustrates how foreign art can illuminate and inform responses to domestic political issues. Tehran’s Cinema Metropole is emblematic of the increasingly metropolitan culture of this young democracy, and especially of the rising influence of American culture. The sisters’ idealized, romantic vision of America and Hollywood comes into conflict with their knowledge of America’s tampering in their domestic politics and desire to overthrow the leader whom their father and Bahman fervently support.
While Roya enjoys Tehran’s growing internationalism, one local tradition for which she retains a profound attachment and fondness is Persian cookery. The elaborate dishes that she prepares with her mother and sister for the Persian New Year are described in sumptuous detail. The rich, elaborate cuisine of Tehran is contrasted to the rather grim-sounding beef and onion stew that Roya can smell as she enters the center to visit Bahman in New England. At the Café Ghanadi, the sensual enjoyment of the pastries that Roya and Bahman share also acquires erotic connotations.
At the Café Ghanadi, Bahman offers Roya “Elephants Ears” and “Tongue” biscuits. The “ears” and “tongues” in Chapter 5 subtly reflect Bahman’s encouragement of Roya’s passion for literature and his belief that she should pursue a literary career, listening (hence the ears), observing and giving voice (tongue) to the Iranian experience. Like so many other predictions and hopes, Roya’s literary potential is never realized, once more invoking the impact the tumultuous political events of her youth have upon her life’s trajectory.
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