Auch Gedanken fallen manchmal unreif vom Baum.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
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Das „Kopfkissenbuch“ der Hofdame Sei Shōnagon (geb. 966) ist ein Meisterwerk der japanischen Betrachtungs- und Essayliteratur. Obwohl nicht eindeutig datierbar, werden aufgrund der im Text erwähnten Ereignisse und Persönlichkeiten die Jahre 996 bis 1009 für die Entstehungszeit des Werkes angesetzt…
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Das Adressbuch
Der Erzählstrang, falls es in diesem Buch eine Geschichte gibt, ist erdenklich einfach: die bekannte, französische Konzeptkünstlerin Sophie Calle findet ein Adressbuch auf der Straße. Doch bevor sie das Buch dem rechtmäßigen Besitzer zurückgibt, kopiert sie alle Kontakte aus dem…
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Winterbienen
Der neueste Roman von Norbert Scheuer, Winterbienen, der 2019 für den Deutschen Buchpreis nominiert wurde, ist das Tagebuch des Imkers Egidius Arimond, der mit seinen Bienen in der Landschaft um Urftland lebt. Das vermeintlich ruhige Leben des Imkers, der an…
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From Bombay with Love
A couple of years ago, a friend mentioned that she is offering consulting to a new restaurant, helping them to capture the atmosphere of Mumbai’s famed Parsi restaurants. At the time, I couldn’t imagine how such a restaurant could look…
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The Colaba Navjote
The hindustantimes has another article on the Navjote I wrote about yesterday. This one provides a bit more information about other contentious Navjotes. And it briefly mentions gender disparity as one of the arguments that seems to be dividing the…
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Who owns the good religion?
Those acquainted with Zoroastrianism, at times called the Good Religion, and the Parsi community know of the heated debate that surrounds conversion. People often believe that today’s Zoroastrianism or the Parsi community do not allow or frown upon conversion into…
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Winterbienen
I’m currently reading Norbert Scheuer’s new novel Winterbienen (‘Winter Bees’). I’ve just started it, and so far like it very much. It plays during World War II, and I found the following paragraph reminiscent of the current situation in Iran:
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Saša Stanišić: Herkunft
Am Flughafen. Ich bemerke, dass ich mein Buch vergessen habe, will aber unbedingt etwas lesen. Ich frage im kleinen Buchladen nach “Winterbienen”. Die Verkäuferin, die sich gut auskennt, lächelt. Ich Frage nach dem Grund: “Wir haben das Buch lange hier…
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Zoroastrian Scholasticism in Late Antiquity
It has been a great pleasure to work on the first proof of my forthcoming book, Zoroastrian Scholasticism in Late Antiquity, which will be published in the “Edinburgh Studies in Ancient Persia“, edited by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones and published by the…
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Once more: Looking for Love!
There is a documentary of 27 minutes on Zoroastrian/Parsi attempts of finding love through community events. The clip I posted previously is part of this radio documentary. You need to be registered and signed in to be able to listen…
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Looking for love!
A short 3 minutes video by @BBCWorld on Zoroastrians, it seems mainly Parsis (no distinction made in the video), and the “World Zoroastrian Youth Congress” where the youth meet and connect in an attempt to preserve the growth of the…
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Stille!
Not my style of literature, but whoever writes about walking, mountains and silence gets my attention! Werner Herzog’s (@wernerhurtzog) “Vom Gehen im Eis” and Robert Walser’s “Der Spaziergang” remain clear favourites. Kann ich der Welt nicht durch Gehen, Klettern oder…
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There There!
“There There”, a beautifully written novel and incredible storytelling by Tommy Orange. I sometimes read e-samples before buying a book. This one’s caught my attention immediately and read it to the end. I got off the plane and almost went…
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History of Humanities
Last week, I taught about Anquetil-Duperron, William Jones, the discovery of language similarity and the beginnings of IE Studies. Disciplines such as Iranian Studies or #Indology, as we know them today, would not have been possible without those efforts and…
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An autumn course in Zoroastrianism
The University of Bergen (Norway) and the Shapoorji Pallonji Institute of Zoroastrian Studies at SOAS, University of London, offer this autumn (23–27 September 2019) a short course on Zoroastrianism. This free course takes place in Rome and offers international students an…