Four Dervishes

In Four Dervishes, Hammad Rind takes the dastan, an ornate form of oral history, and creates a social satire with elements of magic realism. Drawing on a long tradition of oral storytelling, Rind finds meaning for the anonymous central character whose partner has left him and whose inspiration is equally absent. In the stories within stories of the novel, sons follow in the father’s footsteps (sometimes unwittingly), crimes are committed, dark family secrets are revealed, fortunes rise and fall, self-discoveries occur, and an unforeseen circularity shows that there is little new in life. Just as the central character’s circumstances are resolved, a new cycle is poised to begin.

Four Dervishes draws on a long tradition of storytelling as it skewers issues like religious bigotry, injustice, the denial of women’s rights, and class division. Lavishly inventive, verbally rich, an exotic confection, this novel is both darkly thematic and humorously playful.