The Imaginary Bus — Volume One (English)

The Imaginary Bus: Khalo Who Foresaw His Own Death in a Dream by Naser Kamali. Volume One, Parts 1–50. A British English literary translation of the Persian serial.

A bus makes its way through London with a driver called Khalo, a donkey, a dog, Death, and passengers carrying lives and histories of their own. Humour and argument travel together, and the road remains open.

Contents

1. Part One
2. Part Two
3. Part Three: The Dead in the Queue, the Living in the Archives
4. Part Four: The Shadow That Wanted to Live My Life
5. Part Five: The File That Smelt of Life
6. Part Six: A Life That Had Yet to Happen
7. Part Seven: Death Was Cancelled, but Life Was Not
8. Part Eight: The Driver Without a Licence to Live
9. Part Nine: A Photograph Not Yet Taken
10. Part Ten: The Woman Who Chose Her Own Distance
11. Part Eleven: A Relationship Without a Name
12. Part Twelve: The Passenger Whose Destination Was Me
13. Part Thirteen: The Day Death Missed the Bus
14. Part Fourteen: Peace Arriving by Two Roads
15. Part Fifteen: A World That Did Not Stand Still
16. Part Sixteen: Contradiction, Motion and Change
17. Part Seventeen: Bread, History and Silent Gods
18. Part Eighteen: A Love That Walked on the Earth
19. Part Nineteen: A Love That Pushed the Cart
20. Part Twenty: A Love Born a Decade Too Late
21. Part Twenty-One: When Love Wants All Your Time
22. Part Twenty-Two: The Fear That Boarded the Bus Uninvited
23. Part Twenty-Three: The Ambulance That Took the Argument Off the Bus
24. Part Twenty-Four: A Revolt Against the Republic of Discussion
25. Part Twenty-Five: The Bus Where Laughter Became Compulsory
26. Part Twenty-Six: A Man Still Stranded by the Revolution
27. Part Twenty-Seven: The Revolution That Had Not Missed the Bus
28. Part Twenty-Eight: If I Were Twenty Again
29. Part Twenty-Nine: A Homeland That Never Grew Old in Memory
30. Part Thirty: The Sister Left Behind at the Stop
31. Part Thirty-One: A Face Familiar from Afar
32. Part Thirty-Two: Where Do People Come From?
33. Part Thirty-Three: The Donkey Who Became a Migrant
34. Part Thirty-Four: The Suitcase That Had Yet to Be Opened
35. Part Thirty-Five: A Border You Cannot Find in a Passport
36. Part Thirty-Six: The Refugee Who Lost the Word ‘Political’
37. Part Thirty-Seven: When the Earth Had No Passports
38. Part Thirty-Eight: When an Idea Crossed the Border
39. Part Thirty-Nine: When a Question Rose Higher Than the Crown
40. Part Forty: History Began in the Kitchen
41. Part Forty-One: Art Without Its Maker’s Name
42. Part Forty-Two: Where Does the Artist Stand in History?
43. Part Forty-Three: What Power Could Not Erase
44. Part Forty-Four: Arrival Was Not the End of the Journey
45. Part Forty-Five: The Suitcase Packed Twice
46. Part Forty-Six: The Man Who Came to London Before the Revolution
47. Part Forty-Seven: When the Money Stopped Coming
48. Part Forty-Eight: A Man Who Did Not Look Like a ‘Subversive’
49. Part Forty-Nine: A Woman Who Could Not Bear the Silence
50. Part Fifty: The Stop That Was Not the End of the Road

Read the Persian original