Alive Dream

The book “Alive Dream” is a work written by Fattah Amiri, a Kurdish author. The original language of this book, categorized under fictional literature, is Kurdish and was later translated into Persian. Fattah Amiri was politically active before the revolution, which is why this author’s first novel was published after the revolution. Amiri’s interest in political events has led the story of “Alive Dream” to be set before the revolution. The events in this book take place during the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi and the years leading up to the revolution. The story is set in the cities of Mahabad and Urmia and is told in nine chapters. “Alive Dream” follows the life of a teenage boy as he grows into adulthood. The main character, who also acts as the story’s narrator, is a high school student from Mahabad around whom the story revolves. Throughout the story, the boy matures, goes to university, and eventually reaches middle age. Some events in the story take place within the narrator’s dreams, including a scene where he dreams of being a SAVAK agent in Urmia speaking Azerbaijani. In this dream, he finds himself interrogating and torturing political opponents of the Pahlavi regime. The author narrates the events of the Pahlavi era through the perspective of the narrator. However, in sections covering World War I and certain historical events in the Kurdistan region, the story’s narrator changes, and the main character becomes the listener. These sections, presented as flashbacks in “Alive Dream,” are nonlinear and recounted by an old woman named “Neneh Khial,” who lived during World War I and experienced the events of that time.