Death in Tehran

You know, Shadows and Pagodas is like an attic stuffed full of dusty secrets. And one of my favourites is this sandalwood casket I bought in Portobello market. See that fabulous city gate carved on the lid? Now turn the key, open the casket and inside you’ll find a vellum scroll containing the English translation of a famous and very remarkable Persian tale. It’s written in what appears to be a dark red, almost brownish, ink. This is the tale that inspired John O’Hara’s Appointment in Samarra as well as the Baron Parzifal’s adventures in Shadows. There are all sorts of variations, including Isfahan replacing Tehran (or Samarra), and Death addressing the reader directly. Here’s a rather nice version I found recently, which I hope you enjoy:  
 

http://www.iranianhotline.com/OldTehran/Old-Tehran.htm

A rich and mighty Persian once walked in his garden with one of his servants. The servant cried that he had just encountered Death, who had threatened him. He begged his master to give him his fastest horse so that he could make haste and flee to Teheran, which he could reach that same evening. The master consented and the servant galloped off on the horse. On returning to his house the master himself met Death, and questioned him, “Why did you terrify and threaten my servant?” “I did not threaten him; I only showed surprise in still finding him here when I planned to meet him tonight in Teheran,” said Death.

In the early drafts of Shadows I reworked the story into a surreal frame narrative for the novel but later decided to take it out – now I’m wondering whether I should have kept it in after all! Mind you, there’s no reason why I couldn’t use it in the Baron and Peter’s next adventure…

"I've seen things..."

What has Shadows and Pagodas got in common with Blade Runner, Ridley Scott’s sci-fi masterpiece?   

Well, as Shadows reaches its dramatic and bloody conclusion at the Pagoda of Earthly Delights, the Baron makes a final, heartfelt speech to Peter. This was inspired by – and very much my tribute – to the ‘I’ve seen things’ scene in Blade Runner. It’s a wonderfully poetic moment in cinema when Batty the replicant played by Rutger Hauer dies in the rain. According to Hauer, he improvised much of the replicant's speech – making it even more impressive.

 

The ‘I’ve seen things’ scene continues to haunt me to this day. Not only because of the sheer poetic beauty of it but also because it touches something very close to me – the Japanese concept of ‘mono no aware’ (roughly, a sense of sadness at the passing of things). So I simply had to find a way of making a creative connection. The answer was the Baron’s speech.

Of course, we are talking about the Baron here so I’m afraid his take on Hauer’s speech is dripping with bathos rather pathos.

But I think it works, I hope my readers do too.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTzA_xesrL8