The 2012 winner of the ‘Memoir’ category of Jalal Al-e Ahmad Literary Awards -- Iran’s most lucrative book award -- has been translated into English.
Shaghayegh Ghandehari, translator of ‘Noureddin, Son of Iran’, said that the translation took one and a half years.
Selecting appropriate vocabulary for describing the battle scenes as depicted by the author was the main reason why the translation process took so long, said Ghandehari, who added that the book was also “voluminous” (700 pages).
The book was translated upon the request of the art center of the Organization of Islamic Art, the translator said. The organization has already published a glossary of war terms in two volumes, which Ghandehari said greatly helped her in translating the book, reports Mehr News Agency.
‘Noureddin, Son of Iran’ is the memoirs of Seyed Noureddin Afi from the 80 months of his participation in the war (1980-88) imposed on Iran by Iraq. Afi became reputed in Iran after the book was published by Sureye Mehr Publication in 2011.
Eighteen years before the book was published in Persian, Mousa Ghayour recorded Afi’s memoirs in Turkish and it took the form of a book written by Masoumeh Sepehri years later. This book comprises 18 chapters along with photographs. The narrator mentions a dream as the reason for producing this war memoir.
Afi has reportedly announced that he intends to publish the second volume of ‘Noureddin, Son of Iran’ in four chapters. The second volume will talk about the role of the author’s wife in his life, as well as the effects of the war aftermath, among other things, the author has been quoted by the media as saying.
