Ramita Navai

Rich, absorbing, and exotic—City of Lies travels up and down Vali Asr Street, Tehran’s pulsing thoroughfare, from the lavish shopping malls of Tajrish through the smog that lingers over the alleyways and bazaars of the city’s southern districts. Ramita Navai gives voice to ordinary Iranians forced to live extraordinary lives: the porn star, the aging socialite, the assassin and enemy of the state who ends up working for the Republic, the dutiful housewife who files for divorce, and the old-time thug running a gambling den. In today’s Tehran, intrigues abound and survival depends on an intricate network of falsehoods: mullahs visit prostitutes, local mosques train barely pubescent boys in crowd control tactics, and cosmetic surgeons promise to restore girls’ virginity. Navai paints an intimate portrait of those discreet recesses in a city where the difference between modesty and profanity, loyalty and betrayal, honor and disgrace is often no more than the believability of a lie.

Love, Sex, Death, and the Search for Truth in Tehran

City of Lies

Um in Teheran zu überleben, muss man lügen. Denn im »Gottesstaat« Iran spielt sich das Leben im Verborgenen ab. Schulmädchen tragen unter dem Tschador Jeans und Turnschuhe, untreue Ehemänner pilgern nicht nach Mekka, sondern nach Thailand, brave Hausfrauen drehen Pornofilme, Mul- lahs sagen per Handy die Zukunft voraus, und beim Schönheitschirurgen werden nicht nur Nasen gerichtet, sondern auch Jungfernhäutchen wiederhergestellt. Ramita Navai erzählt von den abenteuerlichen Doppelleben der Menschen und entwirft ein faszinierendes Porträt einer Stadt, die ihren Schleier nur ungern lüftet.

Liebe, Sex und Tod in Teheran

Stadt der Lügen

Rich, absorbing, and exotic -- City of Lies travels up and down Vali Asr Street, Tehran's pulsing thoroughfare, from the lavish shopping malls of Tajrish through the smog that lingers over the alleyways and bazaars of the city's southern districts. Ramita Navai gives voice to ordinary Iranians forced to live extraordinary lives: the porn star, the aging socialite, the assassin and enemy of the state who ends up working for the Republic, the dutiful housewife who files for divorce, and the old-time thug running a gambling den. In today's Tehran, intrigues abound and survival depends on an intricate network of falsehoods: mullahs visit prostitutes, local mosques train barely pubescent boys in crowd control tactics, and cosmetic surgeons promise to restore girls' virginity. Navai paints an intimate portrait of those discreet recesses in a city where the difference between modesty and profanity, loyalty and betrayal, honor and disgrace is often no more than the believability of a lie.

« Quiconque veut vivre à Téhéran est obligé de mentir. La morale n’entre pas en ligne de compte : mentir à Téhéran est une question de survie. » Ramita Navai explore les secrets de la ville à travers la double vie de ses habitants. Sur l’avenue Vali Asr, on rencontre Dariush, un terroriste repenti ; Farideh, une femme divorcée ; Bijan, un trafiquant d’armes ; Leyla, une actrice porno ou encore Somayeh, une jeune fille amoureuse d’un play-boy. Des individus ordinaires, forcés de mener des existences extraordinaires sous un des régimes les plus répressifs au monde. Dans la tradition du meilleur journalisme littéraire, Ramita Navai compose le portrait intime et saisissant d’un Iran tiraillé entre tradition et modernité.

Traduit de l'anglais par Cécile Dutheil de la Rochère

Vivre et mentir à Téhéran

Adevăratul Teheran este ascuns vederii: aici prostituatele sunt frecventate de mullahi, există laboratoare clandestine de metamfetamină, fetele apelează la chirurgi pentru a-și recăpăta virginitatea și filme porno făcute de amatori sunt postate pe internet și vândute în bazaruri. De-a lungul bulevardului Vali Asr, care străbate Teheranul de la nord la sud, se desfășoară poveștile a opt iranieni din diferite clase sociale. E o lume a gangsterilor, a mondenelor, a soțiilor supuse și a voluntarilor din miliția civilă – oameni obișnuiți obligați să ducă o viață neobișnuită. În poveștile sale, Ramita Navai ne oferă un tablou memorabil al Iranului modern și ne arată ce înseamnă să trăiești, să iubești și să supraviețuiești sub un regim opresiv.

Ramita Navai

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