Passenger to Teheran

Bloomsbury writer Sackville-West's lively intelligence and independence of spirit animate this glittering jewel of a book. A travelogue of her circuitous, four-month journey to Iran (then Persia) via Egypt, Aden, India and Iraq, it is notable for the author's open-mindedness and her empathy for the diverse peoples she encountered--whether potters in an Egyptian village, Arab women by the Tigris or Kurdish farmers. Teheran, where her husband Harold Nicolson was stationed as a British diplomat, seemed ``a squalid city of bad roads, rubbish heaps and pariah dogs,'' yet the Persia she conjures up is full of life for those who unnecessary. it's implied. aa seek it. Here is Sackville-West the adventurer, philosopher of travel just `philosopher', or `on travel'? aa/leave as is.gs , humorist, word-painteror `word smith'?aa/leave as is.gs and political satirist (of Iran under the shahs, and of the fledging Soviet Union, glimpsed on her return trek). Originally published in 1926 and long out of print, this memoir includes 65 photographs and a new introduction in which Nigel Nicolson, the author's son, adds key personal details omitted by his motheror call her `Sackville-West'.aa . (May)