Prisoner of Time

The book Prisoner of Time is a story by Esmaeil Fasih. It is influenced by the atmosphere prevailing in Iran after the revolution and narrates the intellectual transformations of the author to some extent. In this story, we also see Jalal Aryan, the usual narrator of his stories. The plot follows Jalal Aryan’s life from 1963 onward, after he returns to Iran from America. He is employed by the oil company, moves to Ahvaz, and starts teaching at the oil company’s technical school. This is just the beginning of a story that continues through the years after the revolution until late 1987. Aryan, now teaching at the technical school, meets a talented student named Ali Veisi, who soon attracts the teacher’s attention and forms a friendly and close relationship with him. During these meetings and friendly occasions, Aryan learns about the bitter events of Ali Veisi’s childhood and discovers his anti-Shah regime tendencies. Together with a group, Ali is involved in secret activities that, while opposed to the Shah, show a variety of ideological tendencies. However, Ali Veisi’s life becomes turbulent due to the presence of a SAVAK lieutenant named Captain Nafisi, who lives in Ahvaz. Nafisi is a middle-aged, money-loving, and pleasure-seeking man, with crude and vulgar speech and behavior. Meanwhile, he sets his sights on a girl named Shahnaz Ganjavi-Pour, who is Ali Veisi’s classmate and love interest. Shahnaz rejects the colonel’s marriage proposal. But the colonel, not so easily deterred, even after hearing a negative answer, tries to possess Shahnaz by intimidation, using his SAVAK authority to imprison both Shahnaz’s father and Ali Veisi on false charges.