If
Jamshid has struck a sensitive cord particularly amongst the Iranian
Diaspora it is probably because Howard Lee’s inspiration to write this story was
Love. Firstly the Love for his Persian wife Mojgan and for their two sons Daniel
and Samuel. Secondly the Love for their ancient land Iran which he
visited for the first time in 1998. If one digs more deeply into the origins of
his novel, Mr. Lee will reveal that it was the sight of his young son Daniel,
gazing through the very windows that his historical namesake had gazed through
some 2500 years ago, that inspired this book, the plot of which is as
follows:
Jamshid
and the Lost Mountain of Light takes you back 2500 years to the palaces of
ancient Persia, where a coup is being plotted. Jamshid is the son of the Grand
Vizier to the Emperor, who finds his world turned upside-down as the story
unfolds. Suddenly his parents are banished from the Empire, leaving Jamshid
alone in the care of his tutor, Parthesus. Suliaman is a court official who will
stop at nothing to take over the throne of the global superpower. Jamshid and
Parthesus discover the plot - but can they save the Empire? The suspense and
thrills of Jamshid's struggle against Suliaman - and himself - are guaranteed to
grab the attention of readers young and old.
I
was happy to interview Howard Lee who lives in New
Jersey, USA, on his book and the reasons
behind this literary success that has relished young and old readers this
year.
Darius
KADIVAR:
You visited Iran with your family for the first
time in 1998. What were your impressions of the country, its people and its
culture?
Howard
LEE:
I suppose my first impression was the immense warmth of Iranians. I was deeply
touched by the way I was accepted into my wife’s extended family, and the great
trouble they took to make me feel welcome and entertained. But this warmth
didn’t stop there, I was made to feel welcome and treated with respect by total
strangers. Of course, I had been exposed to the daunting images of anti-Western
demonstrations on TV, so I was expecting at least some indication of this, but
it didn’t materialize. Even when I was walking alone and I encountered a lone
soldier, what could have turned into a bad situation only resulted in a pleasant
chat (it helps to speak some Farsi).
I
was terrified by the Tehran traffic, the way five cars will compete side by side
for the three marked lanes, or those junctions where cars, buses, mopeds and
pedestrians all merge and emerge the other side unharmed. It was like some magic
was at work, because I was certain people would be killed. My other first
impressions were learning to navigate ta’rof, and learning to accept kisses and
handholding from men – very un-English!
Jamshid befriends griffin Ghoreed ©www.jamshid.gb.com
I
was very fortunate in my first visit to see Takht-e-Jamshid, Shiraz and Esfahan, as well as Tehran and the Caspian
shore. I was impressed by so many of the things I saw. The tilework and
architecture of the Mosque (Masjed-e-Imam) in Esfahan was dizzyingly beautiful, but the way the patterns
joined flawlessly and repeated across those intricate vaulted ceilings would
challenge even the most sophisticated computer-aided-design system of today. The
echo that repeats seven times in the centre of the main dome, and the
earthquake-engineered columns left me in awe of the technical skills. The
colours and scents of the old bazaars in Shiraz
and Esfahan were the source for my descriptions
of the bazaar in my book.
But
the ancient city of Takht-e-Jamshid made the biggest Impression on
me. Its scale and sophistication make it one of the wonders of the world. That
it was constructed two and a half thousand years ago make it all the more
remarkable.
DK:
The Story of Jamshid and the Lost Mountain of Light was inspired to you
by your son Daniel who happens to have the same name as that of the hero’s
father in your book. Did the sudden success of your book take you by
surprise?
Howard
LEE:
I originally intended the book to be a bedtime story for my son, Daniel. As I
started writing it, I realized I had a good story going, and it grew into a
novel. The book took a long time to write when I was working, so it was a relief
when I finally self-published it. The most nervous time I had was when I asked
some children, including my own son, to read the book and tell me what they
thought. I worried that they would not like it. When they all came back with
very positive comments, I felt it had all been worthwhile. One, a 10-year-old
girl, said it was “almost as good as Harry Potter!” From a 10-year-old that’s
high praise. Since then, I have been delighted in the interest that has been
shown worldwide. What has also surprised me is the number of adult readers who
also have enjoyed the book.
DK:
the story of Jamshid is also the story of growing up, accepting
responsibilities and not giving up easily to discouragement. Is it not also
about transmitting the flame of love and knowledge to the younger
generation? Not to forget who you are and where you come
from?
Howard
LEE:
Yes, I wanted to convey how fragile so much of what we have is. In the book
Daniel, Jamshid’s father, is haunted by how easily civilization itself can
crumble away. It must not be taken for granted, and it takes active
participation to hold it together. Jamshid rejects this message at first, but as
events take over, he begins to see what his father meant. As parents we strive
to pass on our values and knowledge to our children, but this communication is
never perfect, especially between fathers and sons. Jamshid’s father is too
earnest in passing on his values. He forgets that Jamshid is his own person and
must make his own choices in life. Once they are separated, both father and son
begin to appreciate the other’s point of view.
The sight that inspired the author to write his novel: son Daniel gazing out
of a window in Takhteh
Jamshid better known as Persepolis in the
West
©www.jamshid.gb.com
I
also wanted to convey the capacity of people to create and do great things, and
to believe in the future despite the past, to believe that you can create
something worthwhile for generations to come. ‘We are all better than we know’
is the Outward Bound motto, and I believe it.
DK:
What is amazing in your book is the way you give life to the limestone statues
we can see today in Persepolis : the protocol at the royal court of King Darius,
the people, their customs, what they celebrated, their beliefs or what they ate.
Did that require a lot of research ?
Howard
LEE:
It was very important for me to convey a sense of normality in these ancient
settings. I did do a lot of research (there is a bibliography at the end of my
book) but quickly realized that there was frustratingly little contemporary
Persian documentation of everyday life at that time. It also became clear that
much of what we have received as knowledge through the Greek texts is very
biased and distorted against the Persians. I have blended my research based on
published texts and the Bible with what I was told when I visited
Takht-e-Jamshid, and with my knowledge of current Iranian customs (like Now
Ruz). I also wanted to convey that even 2500 years ago, this was already an
ancient land that had seen the passing of empires since the dawn of
civilization.
Alborz
Mountains: Howard Lee in the Land of Jamshid during his first trip in
1998
©www.jamshid.gb.com
I
think it must have been an age of great enlightenment as improved security
allowed communication across the empire and beyond. Pythagoras, for example, was
brought to Babylon by Cambyses, where he gladly associated
with the magi and learned the mathematics taught by the
Babylonians. This is why one of my central characters, Jamshid’s
tutor, is a Scientist. Besides the building of palaces and armies, there was the
building of roads and the canal in Egypt.
I
recommend the catalogue for the current British Museum
exhibition to anyone who is interested in this era. It has
excellent synopses of our knowledge of those times, and beautiful photographs of
artifacts that are normally scattered in museums across the world. I wish I had
that available to me when I was researching the book!
DK:
Does the name Takht Jamshid
refer to your invented legend or was Jamshid a legendary character
in Persian Mythology ?
Howard
LEE: The names
in my book are just names, but of course I make an association between my
fictional hero - Jamshid - and Takht-e-Jamshid, as revealed at the end
of my book. I appreciate that many readers who are familiar with Persian
culture will immediately think of Ferdousi's Jamshid from the Shahname. My
Jamshid is different, the name being coincidental. I like the idea that names
are long-lived and re-used. Daniel, for instance, is a common enough name, and
most would trace the name back to the Biblical Daniel. But who was that Daniel
named after?
One of the
ideas that interests me is how tales move from factual to legendary to mythical
with age. The Gilgamesh stories probably originated in reference to a great
ancient king. The same is said of the English King Arthur legends, although in
that case we are talking hundreds of years, not thousands. Ferdousi completed
the Shahname in 1010, and based his work on the pre-Islamic traditions and
records including the late Sasanian Khvadaynamak, which was written in about AD
600. So the Shahname was written some 1500 years after the time of Darius (the
setting for my book) and based in part on texts that were written a thousand
years after Darius. In the Shahname the name Takht-e-Jamshid is coined, and the
association between Jamshid and Now-Ruz is described, but the Jamshid of the
Shahname has not so far been identified with a real historical figure. And so,
even though I make no association between 'my' fictional Jamshid and the King
Jamshid of Ferdousi's Shahname, I also think that the two Jamshid's are
compatible once simmered slowly in the great khoresh of
time.
Some of the Howard Lee’s beautiful illustrations in the
novel
©www.jamshid.gb.com
DK:
Are there similarities between your own childhood growing up in
Kenya and that of Jamshid in
ancient Persia?
Howard
LEE:
I did draw upon some of my childhood memories from Kenya: the
sights, sounds and smells of striking camp; being woken before dawn and drinking
hot tea before going on safari; and the electricity you feel when you are on
foot in the presence of a large wild animal. I also used my experiences
attending a remote boarding school, to inform my description of the moment of
Jamshid’s separation from his parents. There is nothing like the feeling you get
when as a child you watch your parents leave you, knowing it will be a long time
before you see them again.
DK:
I particularly liked the battle scenes in your book between the mythological
animals the Karibu and the flying Griffin Ghoreed
or the secret landing on the Persian Gulf
shores of the Egyptian Army led by the villainous Vizier Suliaman. It reminded
me of some of Ray HarryHausen’s classic films that personally
delighted me as a kid such as Jason and the Argonauts or The Golden
Voyage of Sinbad or more recently like in the Swords and Sandals film
Troy
with Brad Pitt. You also illustrated your book with your beautiful drawings.
What were your visual references or influences for these
scenes?
Howard
LEE:
That’s a very perceptive question! I love the Sinbad films, and they were
definitely in my mind when I wrote the book. I wanted to have some of the
archetypal feeling from the “Arabian Nights,” the ancient Greek legends, and the
Gilgamesh stories in my book. One of the ideas that interests me is how tales
move from factual to legendary to mythical over time, which is why I have
blended historical fiction with fantasy.
The
visual influences for my illustrations were the reliefs at Takht-e-Jamshid, and
the tile pictures at Susa. The sculptures are exquisitely stylized
to the point where every curve is in harmony, an elegance of form echoed by
modern sculptors such as Hepworth, Moore, and Arp. I wanted to keep that style
in my illustrations. I also wanted to use the side-view representation of
people, in keeping with the style at Takht-e-Jamshid.
DK:
Your book was showcased at the British
Museum with the very successful
exhibition “Forgotten Empire” on ancient Persia.
Jamshid’s quest for the stolen Royal Kuh-Nur diamond for which his father Daniel
(a faithful and competent Vizier of the Persian King) and family are unjustly
banished could be a good metaphor for many Iranian expatriates forced into exile
since the revolution. Without revealing the end of your story, but isn’t
Jamshid’s searching for the diamond revealing an Iranian characteristic in
general throughout their history which is: an eternal desire to see the return
of harmony, peace and justice in their ancient land?
Howard
LEE:
I think it is an eternal wish of good people everywhere, to see harmony, peace
and justice in their land. The question is: what is the driving force? If it is
revenge, hatred, or greed then it is unlikely to bring about those goals. In my
book I refer to the privileged nature of the royal court, but that at every
opportunity the poor were given charity. Of course I don’t know how historically
accurate that is, but I do know that the strength of the empire of Cyrus and
Darius was built on a sense of fair dealing and, for its day, a revolutionary
view of human rights. I was impressed with the book “Daughter of Persia” by
Sattareh Farman Farmaian, who by her own account sought to bring harmony between
the two Irans that have been in discord since
at least the 1960s. I learned early on in my contact with Iranians that nobody
can trick an Iranian like another Iranian, and I see that as a symptom of a
deeper ill. Some seek a return to the old days, but the seeds of discord were
there then. Some embrace a hatred-fuelled rejection of the old days, but as we
know, this also doesn’t heal the rift. Others blame ‘The West’. Whilst it is
true the West, including my own country, has a long history of interference in
Iran (from the ‘Great Game’ of keeping
France then Russia out of India, to the oil and cold war politics of the
20th century), I think the social divisions within Iran also had a
role to play in the way things turned out, and how they are now. I believe only
the ways of compassion and mercy, at a practical and individual level, such as
practiced by Sattareh Farman Farmaian, can bring harmony and peace and
justice.
DK:
Will there be a sequel to Jamshid and the Lost Mountain of Light or will
you be writing another children story set in another historical period in
Persian History or even another land?
Howard
LEE:
I have been incubating a darker sequel, set in the reign of Xerxes, in which the
righteous power of Darius is replaced by a decadent and corrupt power, bent on
revenge against the Greeks. Jamshid must find a way to once again prevent
mankind from using the terrible weapons that are uncovered in my current
book.
DK:
Thank you Howard, It was a pleasure to talk to you and looking forward to your
upcoming projects.
Howard
LEE:
Thank you, Darius, for the opportunity to talk about the book, and for your
tireless championing of Persian culture in the Diaspora.
Author’s
note: Jamshid
and the Lost mountain of Light
can be purchased at: http://www.jamshid.gb.com
About the Author: Darius
KADIVAR is a freelance journalist and film reviewer born to an Iranian father
and French mother. He works and lives in France.
