دريانورد، غلام حسين. سیمای بندر گناوه در هفت آیینه آمار: تاریخ و سفرنامه ها، اقتصاد، ایثار، فرهنگ، هنر، ادبیات و ورزش، فرهنگ مردم، شعر. تهران: هیرمند، ۱۳۷۷، ۳۲٩ص
Daryanavard, Ghulam Husayn. Sima-yi Bandar-i Ganavah dar Haft Ayinah-i Amar: Tarikh va Safarnamah-ha, Iqtisad, Ithar, Farhang, Hunar, Adabiyyat va Varzish, Farhang-i Mardum, Shiʻr. Tehran: Hirmand, 1998, 329pp.
ABSTRACT
Seven Statistical Showcases of the Physiognomy of Port-Ganavah: History and Travel Books, Economy, Sacrifices, Culture, Art, Literature and Sport
سیمای بندر گناوه در هفت آیینه آمار: تاریخ و سفرنامه ها، اقتصاد، ایثار، فرهنگ، هنر، ادبیات و ورزش، فرهنگ مردم، شعر
According to the author, the goal of writing this book was to provide a realistic, clear, and mirror-like account of his native city. As indicated by its title, the book is divided into seven sections or mirrors (showcases). The metaphor of “mirror” here means to show things as they are. This realistic nature of the book is to an extent apparent in sections such as demographics and economics where the data has been directly taken from Iran’s Center for Statistics and from the documents of the Department of Budget and Programmes.
In the chapter on history and travelogues, the author has attempted to gather the memoirs of travel writers about Port-Ganavah. At times, these do not go beyond one sentence or a passage, but they cover a wide range of tourists from Ibn al-Faqihe to Jalal al-e Ahmad.
In the section on “sacrifice”, the author’s language changes from neutral to one that leans toward agreement with the 1979 revolution. Here, the author takes on the voice of a revolutionary person in addressing the situation of the port during the revolution and war. Most of this section is filled with scattered pages from magazines, personal diaries, war memoirs, and the wills of martyrs.
A significant portion of the section on art and culture has been devoted to introducing various figures, including the writer himself who appears dominantly. The poets of Port-Ganavah are also covered in this part. The last segment of the book which is entitled “poetry,” is devoted to a collection of the author’s own poems. All of these issues have damaged the text’s neutrality and claims to being mirror-like. There is hardly any discussion of sport in the text.
One can say that the most substantive and objective part of the text is the section on culture which describes a diverse range of people’s beliefs, rituals, and habits. The writer has also attempted to capture the idioms, proverbs, riddles, lullabies, and similar items in index form. However, he has not followed the conventions of transcription in this regard.
The main audience for this book is made up of sociologists and those with an interest in the culture of the Persian Gulf’s northern shores.
Iradj Esmailpour Ghouchani
Translated by Niki Akhavan
