"Book Talk: Lament for Siavash by Shahrokh Meskoob" with Mahasti Afshar

Dr. Mahasti Afshar presents her recent translation of "Lament for Siavash" (Mage Publishers, 2024), the English translation of "Sūg-e Siavash" by Shahrokh Meskoob, originally published in Persian in 1971. The book is an exegesis of the story of the death of Siavash and his resurrection as Kay Khosrow in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, and its variant treatment across Iranian mythology, epic, religious, and mystical traditions.Born in Tehran, Mahasti Afshar (Ziai) earned a Ph.D. in Sanskrit and Indo-European folklore and mythology at Harvard in 1988; her dissertation was titled “The Immortal Hound: Genesis and Transformation of a Symbol in Indo-Iranian Traditions.” In 1989, she joined the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles where she produced video documentaries, books, and museum exhibitions around the world on humanity’s cultural heritage.