This work was set in 1920s in Iran. In a crumbling house in a provincial townthe last survivor of a deposed dynasty is slowly dying from tuberculosis. ThePrince... » 

This work was set in 1920s in Iran. In a crumbling house in a provincial townthe last survivor of a deposed dynasty is slowly dying from tuberculosis. ThePrinces once magnificent domain has shrunk to his domestic household wherethe glories of his ancestors haunt him. Drifting in and out of consciousnessthe Prince is tormented by episodes relived of his forbears callous andwhimsical rule. Longdead relations glare out from photographs gathering dustin the Princes room or in his fevered imagination step down from theirpicture frames to threaten and berate him. Of these phantoms the mostterrifying is his wife Fakhronissa who taunts him as in life with the vigourand potency of his grandfather and his greatgrandfather. In his anguish ashis life unravels the Prince consoles himself by seducing her servant Fakhri. «