The Neighbor- A Short Story by Goli Taraghi - 2006. - translated from Farsi by Azizeh Axadi - A Marvelous. story about a Family from Tehran adjusting to Life in Paris

Paris in July - Hosted by Thyme for Tea 

Words Without Borders - A link to four stories by Goli Taraghi

 Works Read so for Paris in July 2019

1. At the Existentialist Cafe:Freedom, Being and Apricot  Cocktails by Sarah Blackwell.  2016 - An exploration of the Parisian origins of French post World War Two Existentialism 
2. Suzanne's Children: A Daring Rescue in Nazi Paris by Anne Nelson. 2017- an important addition to French Holocaust Literature
3. Journey to the Edge of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine -1932
4. Death on The Installment Plan by Louis-Ferdinand Celine - 1936
5. "Luc and his Father" - a set in Paris short story by Mavis Gallant - 1982
6. The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer - 2010
7. Paris Vagabond by Jean-Paul Clebert - 1952, translated 2016
8. Cheri by Colette- 1920
9. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain - 2011 - Hemingway’s first marriage 
10. The Bath of Madame Mauriac- A Short Story by Andre de Mandiargues,first published in translation from the French by Albert Herzing, in The Paris Review, Issue 76,  a very weird delightful surrealist story
11. The Neighbor- A Short Story by Goli Taraghi - 2006. - translated from Farsi by Azizeh Axadi - A Marvelous story about a Family from Tehran adjusting to Life in Paris

Today’s story by Goli Taraghi is about a family of Iranian exiles getting adjusted to life in Paris.  Just today CNN said  Iran and the USA are moving toward war.  Despicable American and European politicians rant about immigrants. As he began his first trip in office the current American president said in 

Paris that immigrants were destroying European culture.  The ignorance behind this is nearly unfathomable.  

I have been reading Goli Taraghi for years. I was very happy to discover Words Without Borders has online two of her stories dealing with Iranian exiles living in Paris.  Today I will talk briefly on one, “The Neighbor” and hopefully the other before Paris in July Is over.  If you have not yet read any of her stories either in Farsi or translation, you are in for a treat.  Her work reminds me a bit of another Parisian Exile, Mavis Gallant.

The narrator of “The Neighbor” has recently,along with her family left her ancestral home in Tehran to move to Paris to escape from political violence.  Used to comfort at home, the family lives a in cramped apartment.  She misses the warmth of the people back home.  She gets mixed messages from friends, some say the danger is exaggerated and others report cases of women being beheaded for going outside dressed in violation of tradition.  The biggest problem is she has a horrible neighbor woman living below them constantly complaining about the noise the family makes.  She even demands that thick carpet be installed to muffle sound.

As the story progresses we see the narrator adjusting to life in Paris. Most of all we see a transformation of her perception of the crazy neighbor.

For sure this story is worth reading. 

YouTube has several interesting interviews with Goli Taraghi 

Mel u