2022 in Translation: Central and West Asia, European languages
A 2022 round-up of reviews of works in translation from Arabic, Turkish, Farsi, Dari, Pashto, Kazakh, Russian, French and Spanish.
“Island of Bewilderment” by Simin Daneshvar
Island of Bewilderment is a recent English translation of Jazire-ye Sargardāni, a historical novel by the late Simin Daneshvar, originally in Persian and published in 1992. Daneshvar (1921- 2012) was considered Iran’s first female novelist. Her books were about the lives of ordinary people, especially women, through the lens of political and social events in…
New Book Announcement: “Island of Bewilderment: A Novel of Modern Iran” by Simin Daneshvar
Twenty-six-year-old college graduate, artist, and employee of the Ministry of Art and Culture, Hasti Nourian aspires to be a “new woman”—independent-minded, strong-willed, and in control of her own destiny. A destiny that includes Morad, an idealistic young architect and artist with whom Hasti is deeply in love. Morad is a sharp critic of Iran’s Westernized…
“Hafez in Love” by Iraj Pezeshkzad
Hafez in Love is an English translation of the 2004 novel Hafez-e-nashenideh pand (literally “Hafez, Heedless of Advice”) by the late author Iraj Pezeshkzad who was one of Iran’s best-known contemporary authors. He is best remembered for his satirical 1973 novel, My Uncle Napoleon which was later made into a successful television series. In Hafez…
Podcast with Kaveh L Hemmat, translator of “The Kushnameh: The Persian Epic of Kush the Tusked” by Iranshah ibn Abu’l-Khayr
The Kushnameh is unique, literally. Only one copy of the “Epic of Kush” exists, sitting in the British Library. Hardly anything is known about its author, Iranshah. It features a quite villainous protagonist, the tusked warrior Kush, who carves a swathe of destruction across the region. And it spans nearly half the world, with episodes…
“The Kushnameh: The Persian Epic of Kush the Tusked” by Iranshah ibn Abu’l-Khayr
The Medieval Iranians, no less than we today, sought answers to questions about far-away countries and events of old. We consult Google or Wikipedia. They looked into epic poetry and romances. Since literature in those days had both to entertain and instruct, the stories they read about Korea, China, Khazaria and Spain also spoke of…
“In the Meadow of Fantasies” by Hadi Mohammadi
From her bed, a young girl gazes up at a mobile of seven spinning horses.
