Fortune Told in Blood (CMES Modern Middle East Literatures in Translation)

Amidst the Iran-Iraq War, two Iraqi soldiers find themselves stationed on an isolated mountain peak with orders to observe the enemy's troop movements. As they watch the brutal destruction brought about by the intelligence they have gathered, their loyalty to their country and each other is tested. As in all wars, both Iraq and Iran demonized each other as the war raged during the 1980s. In Fortune Told in Blood, written during the mid-1990s as Iran was recovering, Davud Ghaffarzadegan labors to undo the damage caused by this process. The author, an Iranian, writes from the Iraqi perspective, thus humanizing the enemy and challenging his reader to do so as well. A deft and economical storyteller, Davud Ghaffarzadegan has received considerable critical and popular acclaim in Iran, though his work has never before been translated into English. M. R. Ghanoonparvar's exquisite translation remedies this oversight and expands the body of literature on the Iran-Iraq War available to the West.