stephen

az says

Dear Stephen,
Hi! How are you? Did you enjoy your latest trip to NY?

I was really busy for around three weeks and I didn't have much access to the Net.

I would like to read a short sample of your writings to get familiar with your dark humor. I'm gonna test myself and see if I will get it :)

Now that you prefer to write conversations, why don't you try to improve them to dialogues and write a play? Have you tried that?

So you and James have been friends and co-writers for over 20 years! :) Tell James that transcribing a tape (esp. when you want to be precise) takes three time more time than the real length of the tape! So if you have lots of taped conversations, and you are going to use them all, you have a huge pile of work in front of you.

You said you and James go to one restaurant for some time, and then you try a new one. Have you ever been to an Iranian restaurant. There are lots of delicious food you should try! Kalle pache, for example, or Abgousht, Ghorme sabzi, and Fesenjun ...

I tried sushi once and I didn't like it. It wasn't bad at all, but I didn't find anything interesting about it! (Though I just tried one) You know, I am not a risk taking person, and I always stick to the familiar, so I prefer to eat the foods that I know rather than trying new ones!

How is life going on? What was the doctor appointment about? Any thing serious?
The weather is getting colder here, and it's raining right now! I have been at home all day long, listening to the sound of rain drops hitting the leaves :) Unfortunately I don't have a view ...

It has passed midnight here, and I am going to sleep as Saturday is a working day in Iran.
Good night.

Arezoo

posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )

plath8 julia says

Hi Stephen.How are you?
I am sorry for my late.I am fine,but very busy.This is my last year at university.I have to write a thesis about English Literature.However,I am very undecided about the subject which will write about.

How is your life?
As for the farm,I didn't go there.I went to Bodrum for holiday-last month-instead of the farm.I really miss Bodrum.It was wonderful.I can't explain it with words.There are many random photos about my holiday on my blog.You can reach them from here(http://bohemianvibes.blogspot.com/)
I can't get used to live here again.I am depressed when I remember Bodrum.
Thank you for asking.

posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )

az says

Arezoo means "wish" :)

posted 5 months ago. ( send a note )

az says

Hey Stephen,

Nice. So you are back from a short trip to visit a couple of friends. That sounds great. I think I will miss lots of my friends as soon as I am done with university ...

Dear Stephen, I was really sorry to hear about your father ...

I liked the part you said about dogs taking a vacation, seems both you and your customers (I am referring to the dogs not their owners) are enjoying your job :)
I also liked your analysis: "I treat just about everybody the same. Younger people like being treated w the respect of an adult. Old people love to not be treated as too old to get it or do it. And dogs just dig me, probably because I will treat them like people."

What type of things do you write? Articles? Stories? Poems?

About my thesis. It is going to be on three of Caryl Churchill's plays and about the representation of gender in her dramatic language. Don't ask me more about it for the time. I hate it until I am finished with it! I actually like my topic and everything, but writing and finishing this thesis is taking so long, and I am frustrated, because I have put everything else in my life on hold till I am done with this thing and it seems to be a never ending job :(
Wish me good luck :)

You remember you asked me if Abbas Maroufi's books were translated? Well, I searched him on amazon. Probably only one of his works is already translated into English: The Symphony of Dead. It is a good work but not the one I like the best. Anyway, you can check it yourself and see what you can find: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&field-author=Abbas%20Maroufi

BTW, Did I give you the meaning of my name?

:)

posted 5 months ago. ( send a note )

az says

You said, you later studied environmental policy. What happened? Why did you change your field of study? And you said, you are busy in summers. May I ask what are doing for a living?
At the time I am working in an importing trading company. I am using my knowledge of English to keep in touch with the foreign countries we are working with. Before that, I used to teach English for some time.

posted 5 months ago. ( send a note )

az says

Good, so you have studied literature, too.
But you know, there is a great difference between what you have studied and what I am studying. There, you study American Literature and you master in one area of knowledge. But here, we have a major named "literature", and in that major we study almost everything related to literature! So, I know something about everything, but I do not know anything about some especial field.
It in not good! :(
We had a three credit course on American literature in BA and a 2 credit one in MA! That's all! (I didn't take the first one; it was optional. In the second one we were reading Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" and were focused on American history, instead of literature!!! seems that the lecturer never took a look at the name of the course he was teaching :D)

Anyway, my knowledge on literature is so shallow and scattered. As soon as finish my thesis, I should make a plan for myself to read more specifically in the fields I am interested in, like drama.

posted 5 months ago. ( send a note )

az says

Hi Stephen,

Sorry I didn't come back to you right away.

Accidental Death of an Anarchist was my term paper for our translation class. The class was like a workshop. We worked on short texts form different pieces of literature for each session and for the term paper we were supposed to submit the revised and completed translations of our class assignments, plus a short part of this book. Nearly one third of it.

So I began reading it for the purpose of translation, and I liked it so much that after finishing the assigned part, I found the rest and read the whole thing.

I like plays very much. I am a fan of theater, whether it is watching a performance or reading a play. Reading a play is a completely different experience from reading a novel. I am sure you know what I am talking about. There is no point of view, you have to imagine the set (the famous three walled scene with its fourth wall removed), the face of the actors when they are saying their lines.... And regarding this particular play: it is a comedy, a well played, tricky one, which attacks the police and judicial corruption of Italy. An anarchist has died, fallen from the fourth floor of a police station. The question is, has it been a suicide, an accident, or a murder. There is a man, the main character, who interferes police investigations, changes faces and reappears in the play times and times again with a new identity, and amuses the reader with his witty responses and reactions to any question or situation he faces. I didn't wish to give you a summary of the book. Hope I haven't revealed too much. I think you should read it, and I think you will enjoy it.

Unfortunately I know nothing about the writer. It's the first and the only work I have read from him.

posted 5 months ago. ( send a note )

az says

I agree with you. People admire On the Road because they think they have to!

I had to read it for one of my classes. At first I took it seriously, reading slowly and carefully, after about 30 pages I found out that I can skip 20 pages at once, continue reading, and nothing will happen! I have heard that the original version of the book was three times longer than this, the editor has reduced it! I think we should go, find this editor and thank him personally! :D

I believe the same about Ulysses. I heard a lot about it, that it is a masterpiece. It is hard to read and you should be some kind of a scholar to be able to read and understand it. I had the experience of reading The Portrait of an Artist … form Joyce. Though the book had some lovely parts, I didn’t like it generally. I began reading Ulysses, again as an assignment. And I hated it. It was a hard reading. I found over 20 rarely used totally unfamiliar vocabularies on one single page!!! I was picturing the book as a masterpiece and it was one of my dreams to be able to read it one day. But what I got was a book filled up with pompous vocabularies, where the author refused to tell the story straight away. I like the stream of consciousness technique, but not the one used by Joyce. I prefer Woolf and Faulkner.

I checked your shelf. You must be almost a scholar on Faulkner :)
I have only read two of his works and I liked both. I read The Sound and Fury when I was seventeen. I should read it again someday. It was a translation and later I heard that it wasn’t a good one. I read As I Lay Dying last year, it was amazing. Both the story and the technique!
I am actually a fan of stream of consciousness. Abbas Maroufi ( http://www.shelfari.com/authors/a1002019288/Abbas-Maroufi/ ), one of my favorite Iranian authors uses this technique, and his Sal-e Balva is my favorite. :)

posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )

az says

Hi

I am more comfortable with the following system. Though it totally eliminates the concept of friendship, which is not good, it has at least saved me the trouble of accepting friends requests. I don't like when guys I don't know send me requests. And not accepting some of those request has caused me problems!
Anyway, I am not really concerned with friendships here. I love reading books, and this is the place I keep records of what I have read, reading or plan to read. I will keep in touch with the people I like, even if they are not in my friend list.

By the way, my real name is Arezoo (Az is just kind of nickname) I am 24, and I am studying English Literature.
Like you, I haven't been outside of the country, and unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to travel around the country. It needs money and time; I don't have the first one, so I am spending my time on earning some, and as a result I do not have the second one, either! :D
You should totally travel to Iran. It is a wonderful place, with lots of natural, historical, religious, demographic, ... attractions. I am sure you will find it attractive. :)

Well, about politics: I hate politics, and I absolutely know nothing about them (whether national or international)! I know it is strange, as I am living in this country with so many political issues. This is the place where politics is a part of your everyday life, it's in the air you breathe. It is not merely on the TV or in the newspapers, wherever you go people have something to tell about it, at work, on the train, in the taxi, on the Net ... but, you know, I am totally ignorant! :)

Let's finish this here and talk about books in a separate note.

posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )

az says

I forgot to say: this is not my real picture. It's just some girl, reading a book, in a nicely lit, cozy room! And I liked it :)

posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )

az says

Hi Stephen,

It is nice of both you and Negar to find me worthy of your friendship. And thanks a lot for asking for my opinion first, before clicking the follow bottom.
Other cultures are always interesting; to see different world view and lifestyles, to find out about the differences and similarities. I do not know how I can exactly help you, but I will do my best to answer your question about Iran and the Iranian culture. And I think it would provide me with a nice opportunity to practice my English :)
Have you ever been to Asia or the Middle East? How far are you familiar with these cultures?

You said you cannot read Persian, but you found my review on On the Road interesting! How did you read it then?
I never finished that book. I didn't see the point of writing it in the first place. I know that it was something completely different ... the style of automatic writing sound fascinating and I do sometimes wish that I could write so ... it seems to me that you can empty your mind by doing that, but I am never quick enough to catch with the fast stream of though passing my mind. Anyway, I know that the book was unique because of its style of writing and so it should be famous, but I don't why it should be popular? I don't know if you agree, but I can see from your rating that you are not a fan of this book :)

I just checked our ratings on the rest of our common books. Seems that we have almost the same opinion on the books we have both read!

:)

posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )

Verniela W says

Dang, I wanted to type NJ instead of NY! Dang! Sorry...

posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )

Verniela W says

Hey Stephen, sorry for the LONG silence. Been around but work has taken an ominous toll over my life. Huh!

Hah, you are from NY! The famous/infamous NY. I've always wondered how it is like to walk the streets of NYC, are they really like the movies or books potrayed? Hahah. Or even run along the beautiful Central Park.

Anyway, nice to know you are interested in Asia (when I typed the word and try looking from the outside, Asia DOES sound mystic hahaha). Well we have pretty good authors here in Malaysia as well, just maybe never got into the International scenes (tho' at times, I find their writings overly naggy detailed or shallow hahah...). Let me know if you are interested, can give you some names *wink*

Thanks for enjoying my reviews... I'll run thru yours to see if there is anything I need / must pick up... :-)

posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )

plath8 julia says

you're welcome.'The Gaze' is better.
However,I dont like Shafak's style.yes,I study English language and literature.I want to be a translator,critic and a writer.
Here is very hot.I hate the heat.
ı am looking for a farm in Datça.Datça is a very beautiful place,and i think I can work and stay in farm 'Knidia'.I want to learn how to make wine,olive oil,etc.but,the farm is very isolated from the town.transportation is a problem.ı dont know how to reach there.
i read 180 pages of the postmodern novel,but i was very confused.I will begin it again.I wrote something about its writer on my blog,unfortunetely,it is Turkish.
http://bohemianvibes.blogspot.com/
thank you.

posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )

plath8 julia says

I recommend my favorites.

maybe,I will translate the books into English one day.:)

posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )

plath8 julia says

Hey,
I dont know there are any English versions of my favorite Turkish writers' books.My favorite Turkish writers are Sabahattin Ali,Oguz Atay,Vedat Turkali.I love poetry very much,as Turkish poets,Cemal Süreya,Edip Cansever,Turgut Uyar who belong to a generation called 'second new'-ikinci yeni-are great.
I know that Pamuk and Elif Shafak are popular in America and Europe.You can reach the books of Shafak.If you are interested in her works,I can recommend you some books of her.
I started to read 'Tutunamayanlar'-first postmodern novel in Turkish literature.

posted 8 months ago. ( send a note )

plath8 julia says

Yes,although Erdoğan provided a development in economy,employment and external relations for Turkey,I did not vote for him.There is a restriction for some areas such as media,literature and internet.Maybe,he has a good personality,but ı don not support his policies.As for Orhan Pamuk,I do not regard him as a writer,his works consist of some blatant plagiarism.I think he did not deserve the nobel prize when i see that there are lots of genius and creative writers in Turkey.He is not a good writer,this is my opinion.

My finals were good.I will go to Greece in August,Iran in September.It is not clear now.
I am curious about the book 'Oblomov' after my friends read the book 'Tutunamayanlar' by Oguz Atay.I will read Tutunamayanlar first,and then read 'Oblomov'.And write something about it.

posted 8 months ago. ( send a note )

plath8 julia says

I was busy with my final exams.now,I am free.:) I plan to go to Iran and Greece for holiday.
Yes,there was a parliamentary elections in Turkey yesterday.We voted.The prime minister's party won the third-term victory.weird!
What do you think about that?

posted 8 months ago. ( send a note )

plath8 julia says

I was busy with my final exams.now,I am free.:) I plan to go to Iran and Greece for holiday.
Yes,there was a parliamentary elections in Turkey yesterday.We voted.The prime minister's party won the third-term victory.weird!
What do you think about that?

posted 8 months ago. ( send a note )

plath8 julia says

hi,
how are you?finally,i am here.:)

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