Black Parrot, Green Crow:
A Collection of Short Fiction

Houshang Golshiri

Set in Iran both under the Shah and after the Revolution, the stories
in Black Parrot, Green Crow convey a strong feeling for the time and
place of their setting. They are varied in subject, ranging from bumbling
secret policemen and the effects of imprisonment on prisoners and their
families to eerie stories about wolves and old religious practices.
A recurrent theme is the plight of individuals facing political tyranny,
unexpected cultural change, or a hostile society.

Some of the stories are indirect, told by secondary characters or by those
left behind rather than those in prison. This and a leavening of humour
help prevent the often bleak, sometimes shocking, and occasionally brutal
material from being overpowering. Other stories are more light-hearted,
and a few have surprise twists.

Many of the stories in Black Parrot, Green Crow use stream of
consciousness and in many the reader is immediately immersed in the
setting, with the context only revealed as the story progresses.
This, along with the cultural gap most non-Iranian readers will face,
contributes to making Golshiri's stories difficult or even disconcerting,
at least at first.

None of this should put potential readers off, however. Golshiri's
writing winds its coils powerfully and some of his characters and events
are hard to forget.

Black Parrot, Green Crow includes a ten page introduction by editor
Heshmat Moayyad, with background on Golshiri and his work.