Gorgan Wall in Golestan province

TEHRAN, Jan. 21--Works on the renovation of all the forts and excavated sections of the ancient Gorgan Wall have ended and measures are now underway to protect the historical site, reported CHN.
Gorgan Wall, which is one of the most important historical monuments in Golestan province, extends for 200 kilometers. The wall, like the Great Wall of China, was built to protect the city from invaders.
Director of the excavation team for Gorgan Wall Jabraeil Nokandeh said that following explorations in several forts and some sections of the wall, renovation works on the wall and forts began so as to clear the route leading the tourists to the site.
A British team conducted research on the bricks used in the construction of the wall, he said.
The official further said that it will take time to announce the results of the experiments but operations to protect the area will be in progress during the period.
Archeologists are trying to determine the exact antiquity of the wall and the relationship between the bricks used in the wall and the brick kilns discovered in the vicinity.
Archeologists have come across remnants of an edifice and a temple dating back to the Sassanid era.
Gorgan historical wall is considered the second longest in Asia following the Great Wall of China.
Most experts maintain the Chinese and Gorgan walls were both built at around the same time with the aim of thwarting invaders.

A major part of the allocated funds will be spent on the day-to-day affairs of public libraries.

TEHRAN, Jan. 21--Funds allocated for public libraries in the next fiscal year (starting March 20) will increase to 150 billion rials from the current amount of 120 billion rials.
Despite a 25 percent increase in budget allocation, experts are not satisfied with the rise since they argue that a major part of the funds will be spent on the day-to-day affairs of public libraries, reported CHN.
A member of Majlis Cultural Commission, Reza Ashtiani Araqi, said that although the Public Libraries Institute had sought 270 billion rials, the Management and Plan Organization only approved 150 billion rials.
Noting that the budget allocated is insufficient, Ashtiani Araqi pointed out that the annual salaries of public libraries’ employees and personnel amount to 80 billion rials.
“The budget allocated for public libraries is inadequate for equipping libraries with what they need,“ he added.

TEHRAN, Jan. 21--An exhibition of calligraphy and paintings entitled ’From Qadir to Ashura’ opened here at Tehran’s Anthropology Encyclopedia Center on Saturday and will continue until February 10.
Announcing this, Head of Anthropology Encyclopedia Center Mohammad Sadeq Mahfouzi noted that the cultural heritage and art of each nation denote the cultural values and traditions of that particular country, said a press release issued by the center.
He added that art sometimes responds to the natural needs of humans while at other times it is a source of inspiration for what is referred to as cultural activities.
Noting that about 70,000 cultural and artistic works are being maintained at the Anthropology Encyclopedia Center, Mahfouzi pointed out that handwritten collections of the center provides researchers with magnificent works by maestros such as Yaqtini, Ebrahim Saghir, Musa bin Amar ibn Soqti and Mirza Mohammad Mozzahab.
“A total of 250 calligraphy works and 200 paintings are on display at the exhibition. These artistic works are by renowned artists, including Yaqout Mostasemi, Abdollah Heravi (Tabakh), Ahmad Neyrizi, Babashah Isfahani, Nasir Monshi, Mir Emad, Vesal Shirazi, Mohammad Shafi Tabrizi, Darvish Abdolmajid Taleqani, Emad-ul-Kottab, Malek Mohammad Qazvini, Khaboushani, Mirza Ebrahim Qomi, Mohammad Hashem Lo-Lo, Mirza Gholamreza Isfahani and Zein-ul-Abdedin Mahalati. Contemporary artists participating in the event include maestro Farhadi, maestro Ali Akbar Kaveh, Hashem Baghdadi, Mirkhani, Karamali Shirazi, Keykhosro Soroush, Vasheqani Farahani, Amirkhani Yadollah Kaboli, Amir-Ameli and Nikbakht Zaviyeh,“ he added.
The exhibition is open everyday from 17:00 hrs to 20:00 hrs.

TERAN, Jan. 21--Due to lack of sufficient sources on theoretical criticism of children’s and young adults’ literature, most of the critics have focused their attention on the section of the subject pertaining to the adults.
Expressing this view, Fereshteh Sangari, a critic of children’s and young adults’ literature, told ISNA that under such conditions, most of children’s needs will surely be neglected.
Stressing the importance of children’s literature criticism, she further said that if some critics with a good knowledge of children turn to viewing the works on children critically, they will certainly have more desirable results.
Stating that of various age groups’ needs are different, she said that that’s for the same reason that if one uses the sources focusing on adults in the field of children’s literature criticism, most of the needs of children will practically be ignored. This is an outright tyranny against children, she complained.
Turning to the children’s literature criticism in the publications, she pointed out that these criticisms are structural-oriented and deal less with those subjects pertaining to children.
The critic further observed that utilizing theoretical concepts which are exclusive to children’s literature will place a better means at the hand of the writers and critics and will help them review the works more logically.
Most of the publications in the country pay less attention to the criticism of children’s literature and their activities in the field are limited to just introducing certain writers, she concluded.

TEHRAN, Jan. 21--A well-known researcher and poet has described the late Mahmoud Moshref Tehrani, whose pen-name was M. Azad, as one of the best formalist poets of the 1960s who composed excellent poems during this decade.
Speaking to ISNA, Mohammad Shams Langroudi said that he published his first book ’Night Land’ in 1955 with a preface by Ahmad Shamlou, a leading contemporary poet.
Shamlou warned him of his meticulousness about the form, saying that paying too much attention to the form is not good and it’s better to concentrate more on the content.
Meanwhile, a literary critic, Kamyar Abedi, categorized Azad’s poems under naturalistic and social critiques in term of content and said that these two topic dominated his works from the 50s until the 80s.
Influenced by Nima Yushij, father of the Persian blank verse, Azad composed poem in his own special language.
“Since Azad was involved in literary criticism, he adopted a strict manner in poetry,“ Abedi recalled.
Azad believed that six or seven pieces of poetry by any poet are enough to remind him and any attempt towards wordiness is unnecessary.
Morteza Kakhi, a critic and researcher said that Azad was more inclined towards classical style and was a follower of Nima’s style.
His poems mostly focused on lyrical concepts with less emphasis on social conditions, he said.
M. Azad, who was hospitalized several times in the past two years due to intestine cancer, died on Thursday.
He was born in Tehran in 1933.
He studied literature in university and began to compose poems in the 1960s.
Most of his works focused on social issues, rebellion and sorrow.
The collections ’Long Ode to Wind’ and ’Poor Mirrors’ are among his noted works.
In addition to writing poems, M. Azad also created some works in the field of children literature and was one of the most prolific writers of the time.

TEHRAN, Jan. 21--A documentary filmmaker has said that culture is usually interpreted as a set of fixed teachings, but such an attitude will turn it into a static phenomenon and reduce it to a mere tradition.
Mohammad Reza Aslani, who is also serves as a consultant for editing the series ’100 Films on Local Music’ made by Hamid Reza Ardalan, said that the project is justifiable within the framework of culture both in terms of production and subject.
“Culture can move towards knowledge, in which one can see a fundamental idealism encouraging loftiness and aesthetics,“ Aslani said.
He further observed that culture is not a basket to include a number of traditions and customs; rather culture focuses on creating new relationships.
It is for the same reason that it instantly links to the issue of identity, he noted.
The filmmaker noted that the collection of 100 films does not seek to present just a tradition; rather it focuses on thought and culture, which is after production and resurgence.

TEHRAN, Jan. 21--The novel ’Enticed by Television’ written by American author Betsy Byars translated by Parvin Aipour has been published by Sureh Mehr Publishing House.
In a press release, the publishing house said that Byars is a famous US author for children and young adults.
She discussed the problems created by the TV for families. The main character Lethy is accustomed to watching TV rather than studying his text books as he is expected to do by the school teacher.
He focuses all his attention to watching television and thinks that the real life is not more emotional than the scenes he comes across on television programs. All of a sudden a strange thing happens and he loses interest in watching television. Lethy now thinks that he has become a popular figure and TV programmers may produce a film about his life.
The book, which has 127 pages, has been published in 3,300 copies. The cover price is 7,500 rials.