/16 Iran

Mohammad Ghazali

Tehran a little to the Right

Hello Mr. Kundera,

It will perhaps surprise you to receive a letter from someone from the Orient. To be honest, this isn’t a typical letter. It is a friendly heart-to-heart, perhaps written to draw your attention to the events, which took place in the spring in Tehran.

Tehran is the capital city of my country, Iran. And the reason for its Spring was the deceitful elections, which shared results similar to those of the Prague Spring – the central theme in most of your novels.

The impact of the Prague Spring had severely reverse influences on concepts such as life, love, death, friendship and the heaviness and lightness of being in most of your novels. Not even your novel, The Joke was spared that impact and I think that that which took place in the Tehran Spring, will end up affecting the Iranian public like falling rubble. But perhaps not. Perhaps everything will turn out fine. Of course of that, I am hopeful.

By the way Mr. Kundera, how much do you know about my country Iran?

Do you even know of Iran, which resembles a beautiful cat on the world map?

Akram Afshar

mohammadghazali.com