#the blind owl

[derangedrhythms]

I had seen the dust of death sprinkled over my eyes, I had seen that I must go.

Sadeq Hedayat, The Blind Owl and Other Stories; from 'The Blind Owl', tr. D. P. Costello

[bookthroneking]

The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat. What a haunting, mesmerizing book.

[dare-g]

The Blind Owl (1975)

[frnndlcs]

La Chouette aveugle, Raúl Ruiz, 1987

[dynamobooks]

Sadeq Hedayat: Blind Owl (1937)

[pensivegladiola]

The Blind Owl by Sedegh Hedayat

[beljar]

Her face had abandoned all earthly concerns; it had assumed an expression that inspired reverence in me. It made death appear a normal and natural thing.

Sadegh Hedayat, from The Blind Owl, 1936

[owilder]

My initial reaction after finishing The Blind Owl - 

The award for the most unreliable narrator I have ever encountered goes to Sadegh Hedayat’s nameless opium-addicted lunatic. 

[themillpond]

At night, when my existence fluttered on the brink of two worlds, a little before the time I plunged into a deep and vacuous sleep, I would dream—With one blink of the eye, I was traversing the life of another, not my own. I was breathing a different air and I was far away, as if I wanted to escape from myself and change my destiny—When I closed my eyes, my real world was revealed to me—These scenes had a life of their own, freely vanishing and reappearing, as if my desire had no effect on them but I am not certain of this; the scenes that appeared before me were not ordinary dreams for I had yet to fall asleep, in silence and tranquility I separated these scenes and compared them to each other. It seemed to me that I had not known myself until now, and the way in which I had viewed the world until now had lost its strength and meaning, and in its place the darkness of the night ruled—for they had not taught me to peer at the night and to love the night. — Sadegh Hedayat, The Blind Owl (trans. Naveed Noori)

[idooodles]

The blind owl by Sadeq Hedayat

“His symbolism of women in this book is illuminating. Eyes and faces are important, because woman is associated with creative reflections. The writer who is seeking confirmation of identity is desperate for the eyes or the face that can respond to him in order to confirm his being. When the narrator can not find such confirmation his life is forfeit. At this point, the ethereal woman's face and eyes connect woman with death. The problem of woman now becomes problem of existence and meaninglessness.”

[derangedrhythms]

Only death does not lie.

Sadeq Hedayat, The Blind Owl and Other Stories; from 'The Blind Owl', tr. D. P. Costello

[hieuchels]

“Khi nhìn gương mặt nàng, tôi trải qua cơn choáng váng làm quên đi mọi gương mặt khác. Ngắm nàng, tôi bắt đầu run rẩy toàn thân và chồn gối chân. Trong thăm thẳm từ đôi mắt mênh mang của nàng, tôi đã thấy trong một khoảnh khắc tất cả sự sa đọa đời mình. Đôi mắt nàng ướt và lóng lánh như hai viên kim cương đen đẫm lệ. Trong đôi mắt nàng, trong đôi mắt đen của nàng, tôi tìm ra bóng đêm vĩnh hằng, bóng tối dày đặc mà tôi đamg kiếm tìm, rồi bị nhận chìm vào trong cái bóng tối rù quến đáng sợ của vực thẳm ấy. Như thể nàng đang hút tinh lực ra khỏi tôi. Mặt đất đong đưa dưới chân tôi và nếu như có ngã xuống, hẳn tôi đã trải qua một cơn khoái cảm không thể tả.”

— Con Cú Mù, Sadegh Hedayat

[opoloop]

Sadegh Hedayat ::: The Blind Owl

[twoq24]

WE MUST MAKE "BOOGIE MUSIC" THE ESSENTIAL FACTOR IN THE LIFE OF ALL. IN PRESENTING THE SONG TO THE WORLD WE MUST THEN EXPLAIN AND JUSTIFY OUR POSITION BY FORMULATING A DEFINITION OF "BOOGIE MUSIC" IN SETTING FORTH IT'S MAIN PRINCIPLES IN SUCH A WAY THAT THEY ALL UNDERSTAND INSTANTLY THAT THEIR SOULS THEIR LIVES IN EVERY RELATION WITH EVERY OTHER HUMAN BEING IN EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE DEPEND ON "BOOGIE MUSIC" AND THE RIGHT COMPREHENSION AND RIGHT APPLICATION THERE OF

- The Blind Owl, 1968

[lorddungy]

passages from The Blind Owl

[tagzpite]

companions of eyes