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re Beethoven

Reader comment on item: The Erratic Career of Western Music in Iran

Submitted by Jascha Kessler (United States), Dec 24, 2005 at 14:48

Dear DP,
As you might recall, neither Bach, Beethoven, Mendelsohn, Schumann, Brahms, et al, meant anything at all about the level of civilization when Schickelgruber came to power and took most of his people with him on the grand road to the 1000 year Reich. I doubt if modernization runs in synch with the history of the arts, even literature, for that matter. Each form has its own history and development and/or evolution/and/or change. Islam has a deep tradition of martyrization.

I have done two women poets into English from the Persian, one considered the foremost innovator of verse in 400 years: FORUGH FARROKHZAD, BRIDE OF ACACIAS, Caravan Books, with supporting materials by Amin Banani, who suggested the project, and his student, Ms Milani, now a prof of Persian at U of Virginia. Fine book, and you should read it sometime. This past year my translations of a true martyr, TAHERIH, SELECTED POEMS, Kalimát Press,with lots of biography and materials, came out, from a Baha'i Press. Fascinating life story: she was a judge in her 20s, was garrotted and flung down a well, in 1857, I think it was. A great personality indeed. The mullahs who seized her, even under protection of the royal household, from the household itself, are no different from the riffraff running the shebang there now...and of the same ilk as Adolf, alas. What is to be done? to quote Lenin. Time is running out, and the escalation of violent rhetoric from the very top in Tehran means either they are desperate to get to the hour they want to begin their assaults, or they are anxious about the West's possible awakening to their threats. Where is a Churchill in our time? Who will see what is before our eyes? And even he was banned from speaking over the BBC from 1936-1939....
Jascha Kessler
Prof. Emeritus of English & Modern Literature, UCLA
Submitting....

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Reader comments (13) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Understanding this ban [69 words]saraJan 22, 2006 00:0732153
A turning point... [646 words]Justin H.Jan 13, 2006 10:5631568
Thanks, Daniel [23 words]JoeJan 4, 2006 18:0231057
A little birdie tells us... [68 words]Merry WhitneyDec 25, 2005 23:4430562
Censorship [138 words]Thomas Earl CannadyDec 25, 2005 11:2730542
Response to Thomas Cannady on "Censorship" [167 words]Merry WhitneyDec 26, 2005 10:5830542
The wimpyness of PC [104 words]Ede BrophyDec 30, 2005 13:0830542
re Beethoven [312 words]Jascha KesslerDec 24, 2005 14:4830503
Not Playing in Teheran [75 words]Josh GoldsteinDec 24, 2005 05:3130485
King Canute of Islam [87 words]diggerdeviantDec 20, 2005 10:1830243
Let the Music Play... Mr Pipes? [178 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Heather ClarkDec 19, 2005 21:3030220
Iran govt "somewhat" out of touch [78 words]Edward BrophyDec 19, 2005 16:5530211
RE:Iran govt "somewhat" out of touch [89 words]JeffDec 20, 2005 19:2430211

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