This novel is an exciting development in Australian publishing. The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree is a novel written by Shokoofeh Azar, an Iranian author now living here in Australia, and translated from the Persian into English for publication by Wild Dingo Press. The only other novel that I know of that has a similar genesis is Oh Lucky Country by Rosa Cappiello which was written in Italian and then translated for publication by UQP. And that was way back in 1984.
The timing of the release of The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree this August is just perfect for #WITmonth too. #WITmonth is an international reading project which shines a spotlight on women authors who write in languages other than English. It was started because the percentage of women writers published in translation is absurdly low (about 30%) and I am mildly pleased to report my own stats for this have improved markedly since I started monitoring them.
- 22% of all works in translation (54 books) reviewed on this blog are by female authors, skewed towards male authors because of my love of classics, but
- 25% of all 20th-21st century works in translation (50 books) are by female authors, up from a pathetic 10%.
What I particularly like about this improvement is that I haven’t set out to read to any agenda. I have read more women authors in translation simply because I’ve read enticing reviews of their books. So now I’m hoping to entice a good few readers with this review of The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree!
It’s a stunning novel. It’s written in a lyrical magical realism style, which seems bizarre at first – until the author’s purpose becomes clear. This style is both a tribute to classical Persian storytelling and an appropriate response to the madness of the world she is describing. The novel tells the story of a family living through the turbulent period of Iranian history when the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war brought them overwhelming grief. While there is no solace to be had in the real world, the mystical world conjures it instead. When the eldest son Sobrah is arbitrarily arrested and executed along with thousands of others, the child narrator who was immolated when the Revolutionary Guards came to burn her father’s library, is there as a witness. She is there to tell the strange story of her mother Roza’s disappearance, the attacks on her sister Beeta, and the destruction of everything her father Hushang holds dear. The presence of ghosts everywhere seems almost realistic when the entire country is plunged into mourning by the Islamic regime. It is the regime which seems unrealistic because it was responsible for the execution of thousands and thousands of its own people: dissidents and conscripts in the senseless eight-year war…
The regime orders book burnings, the destruction of ancient Persian cultural artefacts, and arbitrary arrests and executions without trial. Roza will not set foot outside the house because she refuses to cover herself in accordance with the new rules, rigidly enforced by the Morality Police. Music is banned; any manifestations of pro-Western attitudes brings brutal punishment. The family leaves Tehran for the small village of Razan, hoping that its isolation will allow them some freedom. But sorrow follows them there too, along with all kinds of strange fantastical beings: fireflies that live in Roza’s hair; Jinns who avenge themselves on Beeta’s lover; and dragonflies which portend the future. The more I read, the more strange it seemed, and yet it made sense when the all powerful Ayatollah Khomeini goes mad in a mansion of mirrors and dies alone, haunted by the spirits of the dead. This is the magical world delivering the justice that this evil man evaded in the real world.
As Beeta – about to metamorphose into a mermaid, says to her sister, the narrator:
‘It’s life’s failure and its deficiencies that make someone a daydreamer. I don’t understand why prophets and philosophers didn’t see the significance of that. I think imagination is at the heart of reality, or at least, is the immediate definition and interpretation of reality.’ I was staring at her, thinking about her words. I was coming to the conclusion that she was changing, shedding her skin once again when she said, ‘Aren’t dreams part of life’s reality? Or desires? Who doesn’t believe that the Huma bird, who made whoever it was flying over, happy, really existed at one time? Or the Simorgh, to which the lives of [the great heroes of Persia] Sam, Zal and Rostam were bound. All these books have been written about it and all of these paintings painted. What’s common to all of them?’ She paused, gave a deep sigh, and then said finally, ‘I mean, when life is so deficient and mundane, why shouldn’t imagination supplement reality to liven it up?’ (p.185)
Roza’s wish to leave everything behind makes sense too:
She had left because she wanted to lose herself. She didn’t want to sit in her newly rebuilt house and look at the freshly-painted walls, and the new furniture and carpet, and imagine how Sohrab was killed or how I suffered as I burned. She didn’t want to think about the future and what other calamities might befall Beeta and Hushang. She wanted to run away from herself, from her fate. She didn’t want to be wherever she was. (p.109)
There are numerous literary allusions, to Persian poets and storytellers and also to famous authors of the western world. An allusion to a whole year, eight months and two weeks and the ten-page one-sentence story of the middle-aged ghost are allusions to the Arabic Iranian* classic collection of folk tales, One Thousand and One Nights, contrasting the Islamic Golden Age (from which these stories derive) with its contemporary perversion under an autocratic regime. There is a poignant note from the author at the front of the book:
I would like to thank my father for teaching me to fly in the sky of literature freely. I owe a debt of gratitude to my mother, without whose support I would not be living in the free country of Australia, able to write without censorship.
I am profoundly grateful to the Australian people for accepting me into this safe and democratic country where I have the freedom to write this book, a liberty denied me in my homeland of Iran.
The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree is a beautiful book: thoughtful, wise, funny and clever. The translation by Adrien Kijek is excellent, conveying the beauty of Iran along with its tragedy. I especially like the blessings that Hushang confers on his daughters, the living and the dead:
Then he kissed Beeta on the cheek and said, ‘Go to university. Study a subject that you like, and be someone that good people want to meet. Maybe you’ll return one day. I’ll be waiting for you here until then’. (p.143)
In the end he came to me and said, ‘It’s time to leave. You leave too. Go to Sohrab. Get as far away from here as possible. Go. Go higher.’ Once he’d said this, he picked up his suitcase, locked the house doors, got in his silver Buick Skylight, and disappeared in the twists and turns of the grove leading to the city. But before leaving, he stuck his head out of the car window and said one last thing, ‘And if you don’t go, remember, I don’t want you coming to see me. Beeta was right. We have to forge our own path and learn to live with the living.’
It’s exciting to think that amongst the new arrivals who make Australia their home, there are storytellers like Shokoofeh Azar, who came here as a political refugee in 2011. I hope we see more home-grown novels in translation like this!
* See the comment from the author, Shokoofeh Azat, below.
Update 28/2/20 This novel has been longlisted for the International Booker Prize, and you may notice that in the publicity the Europa Editions publication is stated to have been published by a translator, who wishes to remain anonymous. As I was gravely concerned that my usual practice of acknowledging the translator may be a possible risk to his or her safety, I urgently checked with the Australian publisher Wild Dingo Press whose edition is reviewed here, and have been advised that the translator I have acknowledged in this review has used a non de plume.
Author: Shokoofeh Azar
Title: The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree
Translated from the Persian by Adrien Kijek
Publisher: Wild Dingo Press, 2017
ISBN: 9780987381309
Review copy courtesy of Wild Dingo Press
Available postage-free from Fishpond:The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree
Or direct from Wild Dingo Press (where you can also read the first chapter
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
Your review is hard to resist so another one on the reading list.
LikeLike
By: Fay Kennedy on August 1, 2017
at 8:38 am
I hope you enjoy it:)
LikeLike
By: Lisa Hill on August 1, 2017
at 3:39 pm
I find when I read books that have been translated it is often a war story ir the results of it. I know the authors are talking about important issues but more than often (is that a phrase?) I get so terribly upset or depressed. Do you find this to be true. Perhaps I need to pay more attention. Japanese Lit seems to be the exception. Maybe I am just not that well read in translated fiction. Good review.
LikeLike
By: travellinpenguin on August 1, 2017
at 9:55 am
It’s hard for us to be well-read in translated fiction because it doesn’t get as much exposure in the English-speaking world, and yes, I think you’re right there is a tendency for certain types of translated books to be the ones that come our way. We get dissident literature from China, not love stories, we get anti-communist stories from the old Soviet Union countries, and we get war stories from Europe.
However, although I could think of a dozen or more that don’t make any mention of war, I do think we in Australia need to realise just how much the wars of the C20th impacted on Europe, and how deep the scars still are. So many Europeans have now made Australia their home, that I think we owe it to them as fellow-Australians to learn about their history and culture, even when it’s been lost or severely damaged. I have seen for myself how much it means when I’ve said something in conversation that shows that I know a little bit about their home country.
And while there are melancholy aspects to this book, it isn’t gloomy. A memoir about the author’s life might have been, but this novel isn’t.
LikeLiked by 1 person
By: Lisa Hill on August 1, 2017
at 3:48 pm
I agree with you. It is hard to imagine what others have been through and their stories do need to be heard.
LikeLike
By: travellinpenguin on August 2, 2017
at 9:08 am
Dear reviewer/Lisa Hill THANK YOU to give me one more chance to see how western culture readers can really understand and enjoy of my eastern culture, myth, folklore and literature style. As for a many decades we enjoyed and learnt from your culture and literature.
I also would like to let you know _ despite being known in the Western literature, One Thousand and One Nights, as Arabic literature_ this book is Iranian and has about 2000 years history. There are many records and evidence in our literature that prove this point. But you are not the only one who think like this. I hope in my panels I be able to explain more about the history of this magnificent book.
THANK YOU SO MUCH and all the best
Shokoofeh Azar
LikeLike
By: Shokoofeh Azar on August 1, 2017
at 3:31 pm
Hello Shokoofeh and thank you so much for your comment:) I will amend my comment about 1001 Nights right away!
LikeLike
By: Lisa Hill on August 1, 2017
at 3:36 pm
Thank you Lisa. You made my day :) Hope my novel did same to you :)
LikeLike
By: Shokoofeh Azar on August 1, 2017
at 10:08 pm
Dear Lisa, you are absolutely the right person to write this review. You get to the heart and skin of it and I’m so pleased you loved it too. I’m almost finished reading this exceptional novel, as Shokoofeh is a dear friend and I met her when we were both writing our novels. I feel goosebumps reading about Sohrab and book burnings … which remind me of my own novel. I feel energised reading Shokoofeh; she feels like a powerful force of nature and I hope to read more from her in the coming years.Thank you for this amazing review.
LikeLike
By: rashidamurphy on August 1, 2017
at 4:35 pm
Hello Rashida, how nice to hear from you!
I agree entirely about this book, it is exceptional:)
I am looking forward to meeting you on the 17th at the event at the Eltham Bookshop!
LikeLike
By: Lisa Hill on August 1, 2017
at 8:18 pm
Lisa! wow! that is very cool indeed. Really looking forward to the event even more now. See you soon.x
LikeLiked by 1 person
By: rashidamurphy on August 2, 2017
at 11:22 am
Thank you Rashida… Glad you liked this novel too :)
LikeLike
By: Shokoofeh Azar on August 1, 2017
at 10:10 pm
What a great comment stream! Iran could so easily have been an ordinary, first world country, and it is a great shame that it is not, and I don’t think the US’s constant enmity helps at all.
LikeLike
By: wadholloway on August 3, 2017
at 9:11 am
No, it probably doesn’t, but at the end of the day, all those Middle Eastern countries are responsible for their oppressive religious regimes. They can’t go on blaming colonialism and America forever. Former colonial possessions in southeast Asia aren’t perfect but they are mostly stable and their people have an improving standard of living, and they’ve done it without the oil wealth that those oppressive Middle Eastern regimes are hoarding.
LikeLike
By: Lisa Hill on August 3, 2017
at 9:54 am
[…] recent reading of Shokoofeh Azar’s The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree – which draws on Iranian myths – has made me mindful that in our multicultural […]
LikeLike
By: This Water: Five Tales, by Beverley Farmer | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on August 6, 2017
at 2:41 pm
[…] drei sehr interessante Titel werden auf ANZLitLoversLitBlog vorgestellt, nämlich The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree und Educated Youth von Ye Xin, der sich mit einem Aspekt der Chinesischen Kulturrevolution […]
LikeLike
By: Blogbummel Juli/August 2017 – buchpost on August 12, 2017
at 8:08 pm
[…] The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, by Shokoofeh Azar, translated by Adrien Kijek […]
LikeLike
By: 2018 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards shortlist | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on December 5, 2017
at 5:33 pm
[…] The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, by Shokoofeh Azar, translated by Adrien Kijek […]
LikeLike
By: A Year in First Lines (2017) | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on December 10, 2017
at 12:00 am
[…] The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, (2017) by Shokoofeh Azar, translated by Adrien Kijek […]
LikeLike
By: 2017 ANZLitLovers Australian and New Zealand Best Books of the Year | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on December 30, 2017
at 4:27 pm
[…] Shokoofeh Azar’s The enlightenment of the greengage tree. I first came across this book when Lisa (ANZLitLovers) reviewed it last August, commenting in her opening paragraph that the novel “is an exciting development […]
LikeLike
By: Monday musings on Australian literature: Contemporary Australian literary translators | Whispering Gums on March 12, 2018
at 11:49 pm
[…] That some of my favourite bloggers (Lisa and Brona) loved this book to […]
LikeLike
By: The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar | booksaremyfavouriteandbest on April 1, 2018
at 1:59 pm
[…] interviewing Shokoofeh Azar at the Williamstown Festival on Sunday 17th of June. I loved her book The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree which was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and I am really looking forward to chatting with her […]
LikeLike
By: Coming up in June: ANZ LitLovers with Shokoofeh Azar at the Williamstown Literary Festival | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on May 1, 2018
at 9:01 am
[…] in conversation with me (on the Sunday at 10.30, chatting about her Stella prize-shortlisted book The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree), there are 80 authors at over 50 events, including authors whose books I’ve read and […]
LikeLike
By: Bookings now open for the 2018 Williamstown Literary Festival June 16-17 | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on May 14, 2018
at 1:07 pm
Reblogged this on The Logical Place.
LikeLike
By: Tim Harding on June 17, 2018
at 9:48 pm
[…] for the session, and found all new aspects to it that I hadn’t explored previously in my review. So we talked about themes of books and reading, about the effects of the Iranian diaspora, about […]
LikeLike
By: 2018 Williamstown Literary Festival | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on June 18, 2018
at 3:05 pm
I’ll be in conversation with Shokoofeh tomorrow evening at Geelong library at 6.30 pm and having already met her I’m excited to be talking to her about her extraordinary novel.
LikeLike
By: John Bartlett on June 20, 2018
at 1:13 pm
Fantastic, John, tomorrow as in 21st June? I’ll tweet details if you can give me a URL to use…
LikeLike
By: Lisa Hill on June 20, 2018
at 1:30 pm
It was a enjoyable conversation. Thanks Lisa
LikeLike
By: Shokoofeh on June 20, 2018
at 1:44 pm
Thank you too, Shokoofeh. It was a privilege to talk with you:)
LikeLike
By: Lisa Hill on June 20, 2018
at 2:03 pm
Yes tomorrow June 21st. Here’s the link: http://www.grlc.vic.gov.au/whats-on/shokoofeh-azar-enlightenment-greengage-tree
LikeLike
By: john bartlett on June 20, 2018
at 2:37 pm
Thanks John, have tweeted it via @anzlitlovers to my followers:)
LikeLike
By: Lisa Hill on June 20, 2018
at 4:03 pm
Thanks John. Me too. See you tomorrow.
LikeLiked by 1 person
By: Shokoofeh on June 20, 2018
at 1:45 pm
[…] The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree (Wild Dingo Press) by Shokoofeh Azar, see my review […]
LikeLike
By: 2018 Queensland Literary Awards shortlists | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on August 31, 2018
at 12:52 pm
[…] This post is shamelessly copied from the Press Release because my eyesight is a-hem ‘compromised’ at the moment (24 hours after eye surgery) but I just had to make the effort because Australian-Iranian author Shokoofeh Azar’s The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree has been longlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize longlist. Please note that while the publisher in the longlist is named Europa Editions, it was in fact first published by Wild Dingo Press here in Australia, and I reviewed it in 2017. […]
LikeLike
By: Australian Shokoofeh Azar on the 2020 International Booker Prize longlist | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on February 28, 2020
at 2:50 pm
I only skimmed most of your review, because I might want to read this right away and don’t want to know to much. But that detail about the publisher and translator’s anonymity is fascinating. Good on you for checking. Ive noticed a few other oddities, like the US edition of Mac and his Problem is titled “Mac’s Problem”.
LikeLike
By: lauratfrey on February 28, 2020
at 3:41 pm
Yes, that seems a bit pointless, doesn’t it… unless there’s already a book in the US with the same title maybe?
LikeLike
By: Lisa Hill on February 28, 2020
at 8:01 pm
[…] Please note that while the publisher in the longlist is named Europa Editions, it was in fact first published by Wild Dingo Press here in Australia, and I reviewed it in 2017. […]
LikeLike
By: Australian Shokoofeh Azar on the 2020 International Booker Prize shortlist! | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on April 2, 2020
at 11:29 pm
[…] Lisa (ANZLitLovers) also liked this book. […]
LikeLike
By: Shokoofeh Azar, The enlightenment of the greengage tree (#BookReview) | Whispering Gums on May 8, 2020
at 11:30 pm
[…] from the Persian by Anonymous, Europa Editions [Wild Dingo Press publish it in Australia, see my review and support the Aussie publisher by buying it here in Australia from your favourite indie […]
LikeLike
By: 2020 National Book Awards Longlist for Translated Literature | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on September 17, 2020
at 9:34 am
[…] (The first lines of this post were not mine, they were from the press release. What follows is my first line.) Please note that while the publisher in the longlist is named Europa Editions, it was in fact first published by Wild Dingo Press here in Australia, and I reviewed it in 2017. […]
LikeLike
By: 2020 A Year in First Lines | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on December 18, 2020
at 1:22 pm
[…] talk featuring Shokoofeh Azar (about whom you have heard much here at ANZ LitLovers) and her novel The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, there were other sessions that I really enjoyed. If you’re a Masterchef Tragic like me, […]
LikeLike
By: Mildura Literary Festival, online in 2021 | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on August 23, 2021
at 2:00 pm