Black on Black: Iran Revisited [Paperback]

Ana M. Briongos (Author), Chris Andrews (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Lonely Planet Journeys (Travel Literature) | Publication Date: March 2000

Briongos dismantles prejudice in her disarming, fascinating portrayal of a country that we frequently hear about but rarely understand.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

When the shah of Iran was deposed in the late 1970s after 2,000 years of continuous government by shahs, it marked the beginning of a new era in everyday Iranian life as well as in politics. Since 1960 the Spanish author Briongos has made numerous pilgrimages to Iran. Her chief discovery is the Iranian belief in and practice of ketman, a traditional philosophy that allows its adherents to publicly renounce their innermost beliefs while remaining loyal to those beliefs anyway. This belief allows Iranians to ward off the dictatorial rule of their government, which is nothing if not harsh in its policies in the current era of the ayatollahs. In addition, Briongos, as a woman, is able to penetrate what is probably the most mysterious aspect of Muslim society: the role of women, which has changed significantly since the Islamic revolution. Briongos' original Spanish prose has been translated by Chris Andrews, who does an admirable job making this complex people come alive, with vivid descriptions of accepted practices. Joe Collins

Product Details

• Paperback: 179 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications (March 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0864427956
• ISBN-13: 978-0864427953
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,965,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything you would like to know about Iran, March 19, 2000

By 

Francisco Als (Spain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black on Black: Iran Revisited (Paperback)

Black on Black. Iran Revisited is a charming book on Iran that makes you understand what Iran has been during the shah's rule and what it is nowadays. The Spanish author Ana Briongos has been living, studying and travelling in Iran. Her first visit was in 1969. As a woman, she is able to penetrate what is probably the most mysterious aspect of Muslim society: the role of women, which has changed significantly since the Islamic revolution. The Spanish prose has been translated by Chris Andrews. His excellent translation makes this complex people come alive, with vivid descriptions of accepted practices. Black on Black has given me a better understanding of Iran and its people. Through reading the book I was able to see the better side of Islam and feel the obvious love the author have for Iran, a contradictory and fascinating country and I shed a couple of tears at the book's end when I read the final description of Bubu, Rave and Nuri, it was so beautifully written.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great view about Iran, July 1, 2000

By 

Ivonete Pinto (Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black on Black: Iran Revisited (Paperback)

It's incredible that Black on Black-Iran Revisited is the first book of Ana Briongos. She writes as an expertise, with perfect narrative control. Briongos goes and back on time with great self-confidence. She woks with years of history: since her first travel to Iran in 60's, passing 1973-74 when she studied Literature in Teheran, and 1996 when she returns. She talks about Shah's and Islamic Revolution's periods, mixing life's stories with politics informations. She never boring the reader with to much historics facts, but she puts in a pleasant way the importants events. The traveler like me, whom had a short time in Iran, never would be able to catch the beauty and contradictions of persians. Briongos doesn't give all the answers (unfortunately she didn't take the Khatami's scene), but she's arrived close. I think it's because she put herself into the book. She's not a neutral or a blasée specialist about a distant subject, for exemple, when she talks about the kurd problem. Ana Briongos is a spanish catalan woman and she knows what is a identity question. Read this book is a great travel, this kind of travel we say in the end: what a pity, is finished.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Passable Book, April 20, 2001

By 

prashi (Cupertino, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black on Black: Iran Revisited (Paperback)

Not an extraorinarily charming book as the reviews suggest, just passable. The flow of the book suggests discontinuity . Some interesting and amusing facts have been mentioned.