A Dead Man’s Soaked Beliefs

Contemporary novelist Mohammad Mohammad-Ali has been the editor of several Iranian literary magazines He has published 15 books including There Are Wolves in Hindabad Valley, The Jinni, Copper, Retirement, The Hidden Image, Thunderstorm Without Rains, The Second Eye, A Dead Man’s Soaked Beliefs, Adam and Eve (in Biblical, Quranic and Avestan versions). Alas for the Opposite, Five Years Before 1985. The Hidden Image was translated into Turkish by Dr. Hashem Khosroshahi and published by Kapi Press in Turkey on the recommendation of Turkish Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk.

A Dead Man’s Soaked Beliefs is the story of an employee who hires Moghanibashi (a well-digger) to dig a qanat to supply water for the company’s housing complex in which he has a plot. The complex is located in a very dry district not far from the capital. A long time ago the ancient well digger was in love with a Qajar princess who resembled Mrs. Mir Jalali, the company secretary.

The writer profits from the strange and droll events in the story. to dig a tunnel to his own soul and explore his origin. The characters in the story are representative Iranians and men of the street. Saboori has an ancient lithographed book which serves as the backbone of the story. The leading theme int this story is the Zoroastrian strong belief in the purity and sanctity of water. Moghanibashi convinces Saboori that the well is male and must marry a female according to ancient beliefs and courts the company secretary whom Saboori secretly loves.

As the guests congregate in the mock wedding party, the aging bridegroom asks the bride to descend to the well and bathe in it to make the water fertile. Moghanibashi’s jealous brother stabs and murders the morbid groom.

Near the end the author discloses his ardent and hopeless love for Mrs. Mir Jalali, as if he wants to bring a concubine. He quarrels with his wife but Mrs. Mir Jalali marries the company boss and Saboori’s wife returns home.

The leading subject in the story is water and the ancient rites the well digger performs to extract water out of the earth and his excessive respect for the liquid matter. Water represents the secret of creation, birth, death and revival, and the flowing liquid in fact pushes the story forward.

Printed: Iran News – Thursday, June 14,2007 ,Page 12