Free Fall is a
collection of fifty-nine short stories that will dazzle readers with its
harmonious blend of truth and fiction. In the first story of the
collection, a mythical bird—a simorgh—gives
magical seeds to the narrator that bring forth the stories he writes, while the
last story finds the narrator receiving rejection letters from publishers
because no one is interested in his unconventional mix of Armenian, Iranian
and American poems.
The stories are the fruit of exile and identity crises. In “The
Curse,” for example, the author portrays the image of an Iranian poet in exile
who loses his language and becomes isolated. On one occasion, when the poet
tries to communicate with his wife, she responds, “What are these jeek jeek [chirping] noises you’re
making? Why don’t you talk?” But the poet does find an audience that understands him—a community of sparrows.
A new language and culture flourish in the
Armenian diaspora where duality and, in some cases, triplication is part of
daily life. As an Iranian-Armenian and an American-Armenian, Leonardo Alishan
experiences both diasporas. The book is a reflection on this kind of existence
to which many readers can relate themselves. Free Fall: Collected Short Stories Leonardo Alishan
English 176 pages Soft Cover
Mazda Publishers, 2011 ISBN: 9781568592862
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