Passing Through Faces

Fereydoun Majlesi is a lawyer, diplomat, writer, and translator who is constantly writing. One can always find a note, essay, or article by him in newspapers and magazines that offers a deep and creative perspective on many issues, even minor and commonplace ones, with simple, fluent, and engaging prose, conducting precise analyses. This form of Majlesi’s writing has always provided a fresh viewpoint for his readers, one of the best examples being the book “Passing Through Faces,” which consists of a collection of notes and essays the author published over the years in various publications about important and memorable places in his life. The book begins with the neighborhood of the author’s birth and the school where he studied, continuing with various corners of Tehran. Although Majlesi did not write these texts with the intention of forming a book, the step-by-step and part-to-whole progression of the texts creates a noteworthy cohesion. “Passing Through Faces” is a journey through the neighborhoods of old Tehran to the present day, then across Iran and parts of the world with which Majlesi feels an affinity and fondness. For this reason, the book can be seen as a travelogue, though it is not written in the traditional travelogue format.