L´Usure d´un Monde by François-Henri Déserable

 ´L'Iran n'est pas un Etat de droit, monsieur Déserable. Renoncez à votre voyage´.

Those were the last words an official of the French state addressed to François-Henri Déserable, before his flight took off, direction Tehran. He is probably the only Western author who was able to return - free - to Europe and share his journey in a country took over by the revolt against the mullah. His book just published this week by Gallimard, L´Usure d´un Monde is the result of his re-enacting of the journey of another European, Nicolas Bouvier, a Swiss traveller who went in Iran at the beginning of the 1950s, publishing a book with a similar title, L´Usage d´un Monde. Delayed due to Covid, Déserable couldn´t find a better - and riskier - moment to accomplish his project. 

In an approximate translation - both words may do have different meaning, based on the specific context they are used - usure can be translated by erosion, while usage rather refers to the way in which something, or specific directions, are used. 

The Iran that Déserable had the chance to visit is about the say good bye to the old ways that were forced into her by the Islamic Revolution. The murder of Mahsa Amini by the ´morality police´ was the drop that overflew a glass full of frustration, poverty, discrimination and abuse. The generation born under the auspices of the regime of the mullahs, forced every morning to scream Death to...´enemy states´, knows who its enemies are. 

He is book is a short yet rich in human observations journey through a country waiting to be free. Revolutions take time, maybe months, maybe a little bit more than a year. But there are no ways to come back. From Tehran to Shiraz, Isfahan and the Kurdistan area, he is communicating with people and observes the world around. He does not have too much time, and he should be discrete. His final days are haunted by a meeting with a team of the Pasdaran - the members of the pretorian Revolutionary Guard - that, after not finding any compromising photos in his mobile phone, is requesting him to leave Kurdistan region and Iran, as soon as possible. Otherwise...

This book cannot be used as a ´travel inspiration´, and it does not intend to offer too many historical and geopolitical explanations. But the observations he gathers along the way are by far more important than any other intellectual overthinking. He does no take sides or makes political bets, just looking around, with a fresh curious look. Sooner or later, this eroded world will be replaced by a new one that we may need to learn how to actually use it.

Rating: 4.5 stars