Around the Thursday table

Reading as a shared practice

In Alireza Akbari’s interview, Naser Zeraati recalls the Thursday sessions as a place where a story could be read, questioned and revised. He names Rabihavi’s Hofreh, known here as The Hollow, among the stories gathered into Eight Stories. The group’s work emerges through discussion and disagreement rather than through a simple account of master and pupils. Source 1

Zeraati describes difficulties finding a publisher and Mohammad-Ali Sepanlou’s offer to publish the volume if Golshiri supplied a preface. He remembers Rabihavi opposing the requirement, because a book should stand through its stories. Zeraati’s version preserves the argument within the group as part of the book’s history. Source 1

One gathering, and its aftermath

Later in the interview, Zeraati recalls a larger reading at Mansour Koushan’s house, chaired by Rabihavi. He describes preparing small booklets and receiving a warning after the event, which ended the plan for regular larger gatherings. These remain a participant’s memories; the article does not supply a precise event date for every recollection. Source 1

An invitation, and a place to meet

Zeraati identifies his own role in bringing Rabihavi, Samad Taheri and Mohammad Reza Safdari into the Thursday gatherings: he says the three joined at his suggestion. Membership, in this account, grew through personal acquaintance rather than a formal school or an open enrolment process. Source 1

He also recalls the practical danger surrounding the meetings. Participants arrived and left separately. After the first two sessions at the Pechvak translation office, Golshiri proposed moving them to his rented apartment so that a problem would not involve Zeraati’s business partner and other tenants. The recollection gives the discussion of literary form a concrete setting within the risks of assembling writers. Source 1

Sources & credits

1. Shahrvand · Naser Zeraati remembers the Thursday sessions

   Alireza Akbari’s interview with Naser Zeraati, 6 July 2017. A participant’s recollections of reading, revision and anthology publication.