Ignorance by Milan Kundera speaks exactly of how I feel about my homeland. This greatly written story is about immigrants who have escaped Prague during communism. Some of these immigrants return after 20 years.
I was only away four years, but I still felt a great connection with this book.
Even in Belgium there are many Iranians who have not returned in many years. To me four years was very long and I couldn’t imagine being away any longer. Now I see the ones who have not returned in 16 or 17 years and I think, what was I complaining about?!
You can buy Ignorance from Amazon.com.
Thanks for the tip on the book. Is he speaking of people who return to stay or those that just visit and go back to the place they’ve made into a home. Some interesting books on travel have also been written by Paul Theroux. He’s pretty opinionated but manages to describe a place pretty well. He writes more about the people than scenery but manages to get both points across. Happy Isles of Oceania is among my favorites and makes me wish I had the guts to undertake such an adventure.
Do you think you could live in Iran again someday? Would it be a struggle for you to do so? I guess what I’m getting at is whether you’ll be willing to take part in the fight to achieve a true democracy or whether you’ll be one of those that return after the fact to enjoy the fruits of others’ labors?
cheers,
Dick