“Woodwind Harmony in the Nighttime,” a darkly comic Persian novel by Reza Ghassemi, has been translated into English by Brown University professor Michelle Quay. Originally published in 1996, the novel portrays a group of immigrants sharing an apartment building in 1990s Paris, capturing the claustrophobic and volatile atmosphere of exile. The protagonist, Yadollah, an Iranian exile suffering from a distorted sense of time and self-invisibility, struggles to piece together his fragmented experiences. The narrative explores themes of displacement, identity, and the everyday violences within the cramped building, which also harbors supernatural elements like angels of death and mythological creatures.

The novel won major literary prizes in Iran during a brief period of relaxed censorship despite its candid references to sex and drinking. Ghassemi, a playwright and musician banned in Iran after the Islamic Revolution, now lives in Paris. “Woodwind Harmony” joins a tradition of apartment novels that use a single building to reflect broader social tensions, similar to works by Alaa Al Aswany and Amara Lakhous. The story’s central mystery revolves around how Yadollah confronts violence amid the building’s chaotic mix of cultural debates, domestic rituals, and ominous presences.