Product Description

Professor Pirooz, a Iranian-American who is despairing of his life and the state of today’s world, flies from New York to Phoenix, wanders into the desert at night, and hopes to die. As he pours his heart out to nobody, two cactus plants engage him in conversation. They are the reincarnations of the great Persian poets Hafez and Rumi.

They not only try to dissuade him from his plan, but urge him to return to New York, where they appear again to offer their support: Hafez as a 30-something taxi driver and Rumi in a variety of forms. Along the way we learn a great deal about both historical and contemporary Persia (Iran) and about love, as Hafez falls in love with a precocious 14-year-old he takes on as a fare.

This playful and illuminating novel-in-verse not only brings these two great Persian poets to life, but also serves as a wonderful introduction to their work. Manoucher Parvin’s imaginative love story – part contemporary fairy-tale, part mythology – not only touches the heart, but critically reflects contemporary mores, morals, philosophy, and society.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1102286 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 254 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Parvin's playful debut is a "novel-in-verse," an extended narrative poem written in free verse, which begins when an Iranian academic named Pirooz journeys from New York to the Arizona desert under the weight of a growing despair. As he contemplates ending his life, a pair of cacti assume the forms of the great Persian poets, Rumi and Hafez, and Pirooz begins a freewheeling dialogue, or dardedel, with the two figures on the subjects of art, love, Persian history and modern Iranian politics. Their conversation alleviates Pirooz's suicidal urges, and he heads back to New York. But the restless spirits follow him. Hafez reappears as a Manhattan cabbie, and Rumi takes on various guises, including that of an adolescent Puerto Rican boy. Hafez falls in love with a precocious, poetic 14-year-old named Mitra, who eventually figures out her would-be lover's ancient identity. Pirooz cautions Hafez about the obvious dangers of courting a modern American adolescent, but the irrepressible poet pursues a romance, leading to his arrest and a subsequent trial. The well-balanced chemistry between the three men carries the narrative, and while several scenes get a bit silly-the trial is especially over the top-the story remains reasonably intriguing. Some of the meditative conversations fall flat, but Parvin's dialogues are mostly entertaining, and the author wisely sticks to a lighthearted take on his two legendary reincarnations.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher
A most unusual novel is Manoucher Parvin’s DARDEDEL: Rumi Hafez & Love in New York. For starters, it’s written in free verse. For another, it contrasts the world of 13th and 14th century Persia with that of present day New York, by bringing back to life the famed Persian poets Rumi and Hafez, who reincarnate themselves to help a suicidal Persian-American professor. It provides a double love story (is not Hafez still considered today to be one of the ablest poets of love?) and also touches on the nature of things (which is one of the reasons Rumi is still widely read throughout the world).

The characters and plot set up wonderful interactions between the professor and the poets, who try to reconcile their "Old-World Ways" with those of the "New," and nothing serves this dialogue and dilemma better than the relationship that forms between Hafez – who is working as a Taxi driver – and Mitra, a precocious 14-year old girl he falls in love with after picking her up. That was the favored age for romance in his day. So why, he wonders, does it cause the lovers such difficulties now? All the while, Parvin, through Professor Pirooz (who is despondent not only over the lack of love in his own life but the state of contemporary society, its values, its poetry, and the role of the artist), has his chance to expound upon our current society’s shortcomings and the special problems encountered by immigrants and those out-of-step with contemporary customs.

DARDEDEL is not only richly layered and endowed with lively, off-beat characters you can laugh with and laugh at, but provides a wonderful introduction to these two great and still widely read Persian poets. Filled with myth, history, poetry, humor, and unexpected twists and turns of plot, Parvin has created an entirely original work of fiction, where one also learns a considerable amount about historical and contemporary Persia (Iran) and the nature of Love.

About the Author
Manoucher Parvin lives in Akron, Ohio. A poet, as well as a professor of economics, he has taught at several universities, including New York’s Fordham and Columbia in New York, and at Akron University. He currently teaches at Emory University in Atlanta.

Customer Reviews

An Evergreen Epic of Humanity
Dardedel displays an unquenchable thirst within man for love, perfection and humanity. The enchanting Mitra, the embodiment of everlasting love and light, enlightens a musical craving for love within man. Professor Manoucher Parvin has written a palatable, seductive tale that definitely leaves the reader begging for more. The wisdom of Hafiz and Rumi speaks directly to the heart of philosophy, social theory, and education; it demonstrates a bridge of understanding between the relationship of man to himself (Professor Pirooz) as well as the one between two cultures which are in desperate need of mutual empathy.

Epilogue

Ascendance: The Possibility of You and Me

There is no illuminating nova.
There is no cleansing rainstorm.
There is no music lifting the spirit.
There is no prayer seducing a miracle.
There is only the possibility of me understanding you.
There is only the possibility of you understanding me.
There is only the possibility of one soul caressing another.
There is only dardedel.

"DARDEDEL"-Epilogue

A Mezmorizing Book
By reincarnating two legendary Persian poets Rumi and
Hafez in New York Dardedel connects East and West,Past and Present and
integrates science, art and spirituality in a brilliant fashion. Dardedel is
very humorous and insightful.

Dardedel--A novel of love and ideas: a 21st C Masterpiece!
Dardedel, a novel in verse, is a masterpiece that one would read again and again. It sparkles with the wisdom and spirituality of the East and the science and rationality of the West. Its love story between the dazzling and brilliant Mitra and the legendary poet rebel Hafez will become a classic of the 21st Century. The other characters in the novel are the poet Rumi, Professor Pirooz, New York and God.