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Free Fall: Collected Short Stories

Edited with an Introduction by Gourgen Arzoumanian

Series: Exilic & Diasporic Writings
Availability: In stock
Published: 2011
Page #: xv + 179
Size: 6 x 9
ISBN: ISBN 13: 978-1568592862, 1-56859-286-8
notes

 
$25.00

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Quick Overview

Free Fall contains fifty-nine short stories and an introduction by the editor. The reader will find amazing how fiction and truth are intermingled harmoniously. The first story of the book is an introductory story where the legendary bird, simorgh, gives magical seeds to the narrator that bring forth the stories he writes. Meanwhile, the last story finds the narrator receiving rejection letters from publishers simply because no one was interested in his strange Armenian-Iranian-American poems.
In between the first and last stories, what comes of those seeds is the fruit of exile and identity crises. "The Curse," a short story, 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?"
For some, the rejected poems are perhaps the same as the jeek jeek noises. However, the poet finds an audience who would understand him – the community of the sparrows.
It is a fact that a new language and culture flourish in the Diaspora where duality and, in some cases, triplication is part of daily life. Being an Iranian-Armenian, Leonardo Alishan experienced both Diasporas, and this book is the reflection of that existence, which many people can relate to themselves.

ABOUT THE EDITOR
Born in Salmas, Iran, poet and writer Gourgen Arzoumanian is author of two Armenian books of poetry: "Apricot Shine" (1980) and "In The Intersections" (1984). He moved to United States in 1988. Between 1995 and 2000, he was the editor of “Open Letter,” a Glendale-based Armenian Literary journal; he founded and organized the “Literary Corner” a series of literary gatherings sponsored by Glendale Public Library. He is also editor of Birthmark, a bilingual anthology of Armenian- American Poetry published in 1999. Arzoumanian’s poetry, short stories, book critiques and translations have appeared in numerous Armenian literary magazines.

ABOUT THE COVER
Original art by Vachig Der Sarkesian

author

Leonardo P. Alishan

Leonardo P. Alishan (1951-2005) was born of Armenian parents in Tehran, Iran. He came to the United States for graduate studies in 1973. He taught Persian literature and comparative literature at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City from 1978-1997. During his life he published two collections of poetry, Dancing Barefoot on Broken Glass (1991) and Through A Dewdrop (2000). His poems and short stories have been published in a variety of anthologies and journals, and he was the recipient of a number of literary awards, including the Academy of American Poets award, the Christopher Morely Poetry Award, the Anne Irving Writing Award, and Atlanta Review’s International Merit Award.

Introduction by Gourgen Arzoumanian

The Simorgh
The Scribe
The Birth of Beauty
In Adam’s Dream
The Twins
Robinson Crusoe
Perspectives I
The Fishing Incident
The Adamites
The Bundle
The Sin of the Second Angel
Lord of the Bridge
The Sirens of Tus
The Secret
Beatrice
Armirani Lover’s Complaint
Pygmalion and Daphne
Perspectives II
The Conspiracy
The Right Key to the Right Door
The Messenger
Bioschizophrenia
The Mad Geese of Salt Lake City International
The Exile
The Turtle from Ceylon
The Framemaker
The Butterfly and the Boy
The Rosary
The Messengers
The Reflection
Webs Our Grandfathers Weave
The Dark Side of Adelma
The Black City
A Wish
The Cry for Help
A Letter
de Chirico and I
The Prince
Ecce Homo
The Belgian Governor and the Drunk
The Manticora
Outside the Crowded Bus
The Angel and the Pipe
The Spirit World of the Winged Ones
The Famous Poet of Armiran
The Poet of Poets
Under the Shapes of the Moon
The Lady and the Persian Rug
Coexistence
The Lady, the Demon, and the Little Exorcist
When Our House Was Still Alive
The Guilty Party
Deliverance
The Legacy of Light
The Gatekeeper
The Quest
The Curse
Motion Sickness
Why Write

Notes by Gourgen Arzoumanian

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