My Uncle Napoleon
Encyclopedia
My Uncle Napoleon is a coming of age novel by Iran
ian author Iraj Pezeshkzad
published in Tehran
in Persian
in 1973. The novel was adapted to a highly successful TV series in 1976 directed by Nasser Taghvai. Though the book and the TV series were briefly banned following the Islamic revolution of 1979 in Iran, both thrived under- and above-ground and remain popular cultural references for many Iranians to this day. (Nafisi 2006). To this day, it is cited as "the most important and well-loved work of Iranian fiction since World War II" (Ryan 2006) and "a testament to the complexity, vitality, and flexibility of Iranian culture and society" (Nafisi 2006). It is noted for its lampooning of the widespread Iranian belief that the English are responsible for events that occur in Iran. The novel has been translated by Dick Davis into English.
during World War II
. Most of the plot occurs in the narrator's home, a huge early 20th-century-style Iranian mansion in which three wealthy families live under the tyranny of a paranoid patriarch Uncle. The Uncle—who in reality is a retired low-level officer from the Persian Cossack Brigade
under Colonel Vladimir Liakhov's
command—claims, and in latter stages of the story actually believes that he and his butler Mash Qasem were involved in wars against the British Empire
and their lackeys such as Khodadad Khan, as well as battles supporting the Iranian Constitutional Revolution
; and that with the occupation of Iran by the Allied Forces, the English are now on course to take revenge on him. The story's narrator (nameless in the novel but called Saeed in the TV series) is a high school student in love with his cousin Layli who is Dear Uncle's daughter. The story evolves around the narrator's struggles to stall Layli's pre-arranged marriage to her cousin Puri, while the narrator's father and Dear Uncle plot various mischiefs against each other to settle past family feuds. A multitude of supporting characters, including police investigators, government officials, housewives, a medical doctor, a butcher, a sycophantic preacher, servants, a shoeshine man, and an Indian or two provide various entertaining sequences throughout the development of the story.
by Dick Davis and published by Mage Publishers, a translation that manages to evoke the richness of the original text and is faithful without being literal (Asayesh 1996). The English translation has since been re-published by Random House
in 2006 with an introduction by Azar Nafisi
and an afterword by the author, Iraj Pezeshkzad.
The novel is a rich and comic representation of the Iranian society of 1940s, though many characteristics of the story's various characters can arguably still be seen in today's Iranian society. The garden in which the story takes place, "in more ways than one becomes a microcosm of modern Iranian society" (Nafisi 2006). The novel, at its core a love story, unfolds around the young narrator's delicate and pure love for his cousin Layli, a love which is constantly jeopardized by an army of family members and the hilarious mayhem of their intrigues and machinations.
Many phrases and colloquialisms first introduced in the novel have since found their way into daily Persian usage. The most notable of which is "Uncle Napoleonism" or to call someone "Uncle Napoleon", which refers to a belief or a person who believes in conspiracy theories that foreigners, specially the English, are responsible for Iran's misfortunes. Also of note are "going to San Francisco", a euphemism for having sex and "to the grave it's ah... ah...", a phrase used to mock a person who is visibly lying.
. The series was a huge success financially, the production cost has been estimated to be 50 million Rials
(equivalent to U$770,000 in 1976) while the broadcaster paid about 200 million Rials
, four times the production cost, to buy the rights for broadcasting the series. Due to its extreme popularity, reruns of the series were frequent in the National Iranian Radio and Television until the Islamic revolution of 1979. Although the series has been banned in Iran since the revolution it is still watched and loved by many. The series has been released on DVD by Pars Video, Taraneh Records
, and Chehreh Nama.
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian author Iraj Pezeshkzad
Iraj Pezeshkzad
Iraj Pezeshkzad is an Iranian writer and author of the famous Persian novel Dā'i Jān Napoleon published in the early 1970s.-Career:...
published in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
in Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
in 1973. The novel was adapted to a highly successful TV series in 1976 directed by Nasser Taghvai. Though the book and the TV series were briefly banned following the Islamic revolution of 1979 in Iran, both thrived under- and above-ground and remain popular cultural references for many Iranians to this day. (Nafisi 2006). To this day, it is cited as "the most important and well-loved work of Iranian fiction since World War II" (Ryan 2006) and "a testament to the complexity, vitality, and flexibility of Iranian culture and society" (Nafisi 2006). It is noted for its lampooning of the widespread Iranian belief that the English are responsible for events that occur in Iran. The novel has been translated by Dick Davis into English.
Plot summary
The story takes place at the time of Iran's occupation by the Allied ForcesAllies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Most of the plot occurs in the narrator's home, a huge early 20th-century-style Iranian mansion in which three wealthy families live under the tyranny of a paranoid patriarch Uncle. The Uncle—who in reality is a retired low-level officer from the Persian Cossack Brigade
Persian Cossack Brigade
The Persian Cossack Brigade was an elite cavalry unit formed in 1879 in Iran. During much of their history they were the only functional, effective military unit of the Qajar Dynasty...
under Colonel Vladimir Liakhov's
Vladimir Liakhov
Polkovnik Vladimir Platonovitch Liakhov was the commander of Persian Cossack Brigade during the rule of Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar. He gained considerable notoriety after shelling the Majlis of Iran and executed several constitutionalist leaders on June 24, 1908...
command—claims, and in latter stages of the story actually believes that he and his butler Mash Qasem were involved in wars against the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
and their lackeys such as Khodadad Khan, as well as battles supporting the Iranian Constitutional Revolution
Iranian Constitutional Revolution
The Persian Constitutional Revolution or Iranian Constitutional Revolution took place between 1905 and 1907...
; and that with the occupation of Iran by the Allied Forces, the English are now on course to take revenge on him. The story's narrator (nameless in the novel but called Saeed in the TV series) is a high school student in love with his cousin Layli who is Dear Uncle's daughter. The story evolves around the narrator's struggles to stall Layli's pre-arranged marriage to her cousin Puri, while the narrator's father and Dear Uncle plot various mischiefs against each other to settle past family feuds. A multitude of supporting characters, including police investigators, government officials, housewives, a medical doctor, a butcher, a sycophantic preacher, servants, a shoeshine man, and an Indian or two provide various entertaining sequences throughout the development of the story.
Literary significance and reception
My Uncle Napoleon was written by Iraj Pezeshkzad and published in 1973. Loosely based on the author's real life experiences and his love for the daughter of a wealthy aristocrat, the story instantly became a cultural reference point and its characters national icons of the '70s. The novel was translated in 1996 to EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
by Dick Davis and published by Mage Publishers, a translation that manages to evoke the richness of the original text and is faithful without being literal (Asayesh 1996). The English translation has since been re-published by Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
in 2006 with an introduction by Azar Nafisi
Azar Nafisi
Azar Nafisi, born ca. 1947, is an Iranian academic and bestselling writer who has resided in the United States since 1997 when she emigrated from Iran. Her field is English language literature....
and an afterword by the author, Iraj Pezeshkzad.
The novel is a rich and comic representation of the Iranian society of 1940s, though many characteristics of the story's various characters can arguably still be seen in today's Iranian society. The garden in which the story takes place, "in more ways than one becomes a microcosm of modern Iranian society" (Nafisi 2006). The novel, at its core a love story, unfolds around the young narrator's delicate and pure love for his cousin Layli, a love which is constantly jeopardized by an army of family members and the hilarious mayhem of their intrigues and machinations.
Many phrases and colloquialisms first introduced in the novel have since found their way into daily Persian usage. The most notable of which is "Uncle Napoleonism" or to call someone "Uncle Napoleon", which refers to a belief or a person who believes in conspiracy theories that foreigners, specially the English, are responsible for Iran's misfortunes. Also of note are "going to San Francisco", a euphemism for having sex and "to the grave it's ah... ah...", a phrase used to mock a person who is visibly lying.
Adaptation as a TV series
In 1976 director Nasser Taghvai turned the novel into a legendary mini TV series, compiling the story in 18 episodes. With an A-list cast, the series was a huge success both with the audience and the critics. It topped the ratings in every airing of its episodes and it was the most watched show when it aired on Friday nights. Many consider the series to be an ageless masterpiece and the father of modern television comedy in Iran. Many terms coined during the series' run have become part of Persian popular culturePopular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
. The series was a huge success financially, the production cost has been estimated to be 50 million Rials
Iranian rial
The rial is the currency of Iran. It is subdivided into 100 dinar but, because of the very low current value of the rial, no fraction of the rial is used in accounting....
(equivalent to U$770,000 in 1976) while the broadcaster paid about 200 million Rials
Iranian rial
The rial is the currency of Iran. It is subdivided into 100 dinar but, because of the very low current value of the rial, no fraction of the rial is used in accounting....
, four times the production cost, to buy the rights for broadcasting the series. Due to its extreme popularity, reruns of the series were frequent in the National Iranian Radio and Television until the Islamic revolution of 1979. Although the series has been banned in Iran since the revolution it is still watched and loved by many. The series has been released on DVD by Pars Video, Taraneh Records
Taraneh Records
Taraneh Records is an Iranian record label in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in the early 80s after the Islamic Revolution. In the past two decades it has distributed many albums from some of the most famous Iranian artists. Some of the first signings to Taraneh were Hayedeh, Farhad...
, and Chehreh Nama.
Cast
|
|
|
Main characters
- Dear Uncle Napoleon (Daï Jan Napoleon): The patriarch of the family. Dear Uncle is a paranoid, imaginative and delusional character who believes he was involved in many wars against the English army and their "lackeys". The title Uncle NapoleonNapoleon I of FranceNapoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
is sarcastically given to him by his nieces and nephews due to his admiration and obsession with the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. - Mash Qasem: Dear Uncle's faithful servant and butler from a small town, Ghiasabad near QomQomQom is a city in Iran. It lies by road southwest of Tehran and is the capital of Qom Province. At the 2006 census, its population was 957,496, in 241,827 families. It is situated on the banks of the Qom River....
. Strongly devoted to Dear Uncle, his claim to fame is to have been involved in battles against the British Army alongside Dear Uncle, the most important of which are the Battle of MamasaniMamasani CountyMamasani County is a county in Fars Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Nurabad, which is located 180 kilometres from Shiraz. The people of Mamasani speak in Lurish language in southern Lurish dialect...
and the Battle of Kazeroun. Overly proud of his native town Ghiaasabad and constantly telling stories of his hometown, he has a tendency to give himself away when hiding the truth by starting his sentences with "why should I lie? To the grave it's ah... ah...ah". Mash Qasem becomes the messenger between the narrator and Layli at times when the two cannot meet, partly as a favour to the narrator and partly to satisfy his own unbounded inquisitiveness. - The Narrator/Saeed: The narrator of the story and Dear Uncle's nephew. The narrator, who remains nameless and rather arcane in the novel despite being the central figure around whom the story develops, falls in love with Dear Uncle's daughter Layli, one a hot summer day on 13 August at quarter to three in the afternoon.
- Agha Joon: The narrator's father, a pharmacist who is the brother-in-law of Dear Uncle. After years of being ridiculed by Dear Uncle for not belonging to an aristocratic family, he takes his revenge by strengthening Dear Uncle's belief that the English are after him.
- Asadollah Mirza: An official in the Foreign Ministry and half brother (by his father's gardener's daughter) of Shams Ali Mirza. A playboy, Asadollah Mirza doesn't spare any opportunity to seduce the opposite sex with his charm and charisma, irrespective of the subject matter's marital/social status. He was once happily married and in love with a woman until she cheated on him and left him. The "Mirza" of his and his brother's name is an honorific indicating a distant relation to the Qajar royal family which is why he is referred to as "Shazdeh" meaning prince. He becomes a close friend of the narrator during the course of the novel, often trying to help him in his efforts to reach his love.
Supporting characters
- Colonel (Sarhang): Dear Uncle's younger brother. A paranoid retired army officer, he retired from the army with a rank much lower than a Colonel, but is referred to as Colonel by the family.
- Dustali Khan: Dear Uncle's brother-in-law and favorite person who is inept at nearly everything and is constantly made fun of by the other members of the family, especially by Asadollah Mirza. His wife once tries to cut his penis off with a kitchen knife after finding out that he has cheated on her. He also gets shot by his wife in the bottom when he impregnates his step daughter.
- Aziz Al-Saltaneh: Dustali Khan's wife and Qamar's mother. A cousin of Asdollah and Shams Ali Mirza.
- Dr. Naser Al-Hokama: An old doctor who is the family doctor and close friend. He has been married three times. His mostly rudimentary knowledge of medicine is often ridiculed in the book.
- Shams Ali Mirza: The older half brother of Asdollah Mirza. A discharged/retired District Attorney. Believes all problems can be solved by interrogation.
- Layli: The only child of Dear Uncle. She and the narrator fall in love but her marriage has been prearranged by the family.
- Puri: The rather clumsy son of Colonel who is destined to marry Layli. A subject of ridicule by the narrator, he is conscripted by the army to fight the Allied invasion, but faints in the battle after hearing a gunshot. He loses one of his testicles in a fight with the narrator, becoming a subject of Dr. Naser al-Hokama's treatments.
- Qamar: The mentally challenged, overweight daughter of Aziz al-Saltaneh from her first marriage and Dustali Khan's stepdaughter. The family goes to great lengths to find her a husband and save her honour after she is found pregnanted by Dustali Khan.
- Deputy Taymur Khan: An "internationally renowned" detective famous for his aggressive methods of deduction.
- Cadet Officer Ghiaasabadi: An old opium addicted detective and Deputy Taymur Khan's assistant who eventually marries Qamar and wins her inheritance money, overcoming Dustali Khan's assorted tussles in the process.
- Naneh Rajab: Cadet Officer Ghiaasabadi's mother.
- Akhtar: Cadet Officer Ghiasabdi's sister. A promiscuous woman who is a dancer at a nightclub.
- Asghar the Diesel: Akhtar's boyfriend, a street thug.
- Farokh Laqa: A bitter old woman who has never been married and is always in search of funerals to attend.
- Sardar Maharat Khan: A Sikh Indian businessman; though not a military man, his honorific Persian title of Sardar means "commander". Dear Uncle thinks that he is an English spy.
- Lady Maharat Khan: The Sardar's blonde British wife.
- Shir Ali the Butcher: A giant, violent butcher, very protective of his wife's honour, but too much of a simpleton to realise what's going on in his house. The "Shir" of his name means "lion".
- Tahereh: Shir Ali's lascivious beautiful wife whom everyone in the neighbourhood from Dustali Khan to Asadollah Mirza sleep with.
- Houshang: A local cobbler and shoe shiner whom Dear Uncle believes is sent from the Germans to protect him from the British.
- Seyed Abolqasem: A local preacher.
- Naneh Bilqis: Dear Uncle's maid and chef.
English translation publication history
- 1996, USA, Mage Publishers ISBN 0-934211-48-5, Hardcover
- 2006, USA, Random HouseRandom HouseRandom House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
, ISBN 0-8129-7443-3, Paperback