Father & Son (Paperback)

~ Majid Naficy (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

These poems come from a place of separation. They are written by an exile who is a father. We hear the deaths of brother and wife, the juxtaposition of cradle and casket, the burial shovel with the baby bottle. It is American to look forward with roots backward. To embrace the country that supported the oppression of one's homeland. All this Majid Naficy does with the paired down lucid crafted language of a poet who speaks slowly and clearly, who evince surprise at being alive.

"I turn off the voice
And return
To my empty bed"

About the Author

Majid Naficy was born in Iran in 1952. His first collection of poems in Persian called In the Tiger’s Skin, was published in 1969. One year later his book of literary criticism, Poetry as a Structure, appeared. In 1971 he wrote a children’s book, The Secret of Words, which won a national award in Iran.

In the 1970s, Majid was politically active against the Shah’s regime. However, after the 1979 Revolution, the new regime began to suppress the opposition, and many people, including his first wife, Ezzat Tabaian and brother, Sa’id, were executed. He fled Iran in 1983 and spent a year and a half in Turkey and France. Majid then settled in Los Angeles where he lives with his son, Azad. He has since published five collections of poems, After the Silence, Sorrow of the Border, Poems of Venice, Muddy Shoes, and Twelve Poems in Love: A Narrative as well as two books of essays called In Search of Joy: A Critique of Male-Dominated, Death-Oriented Culture in Iran, and Poetry & Politics and Twenty-Four Other Essays. He is currently a co-editor of Daftarhaya Kanoon, a literary journal published by The Iranian Writers’ Association in Exile.

Majid Naficy holds his doctorate in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from the University of California at Los Angeles. His doctoral dissertation, Modernism & Ideology in Persian Literature: A Return to Nature in the Poetry of Nima Yushij, was published by University Press of America, Inc. in 1997.

Product Details

• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: Red Hen Press (March 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888996684
• ISBN-13: 978-1888996685
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,934,316 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars longing for home, November 5, 2007

By	W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The author has been in America almost as long as me. But unlike me, he was driven into exile. The sense of loss that pervades his poems may be familiar to millions of people in the US, who have come from distant lands.

The style of the poems is somewhat sparse. A minimalist presentation that at times speaks starkly of a longing and an inability to go home.