Good Luck

Good Luck

Regarding Hedayat’s “The Blind Owl” for example this inability to reflect the emotional struggle is evident form the begging of its translation.
As you know the story starts with:
در زندگی زخمهایی هست که مثل خوره آهسته روح را در انزوا می‌خورد و می‌تراشد. اين دردها را نمی‌شود به کسی اظهار کرد، چون عموماً عادت دارند که اين دردهای باورنکردنی را جزو اتفاقات و پيش آمدهای نادر و عجيب بشمارند و اگر کسی بگويد يا بنويسد، مردم بر سبيل عقايد جاری و عقايد خودشان سعی می‌کنند آنرا با لبخند شکاک و تمسخر آميز تلقی بکنند
But, we, as Persian speakers, know that خوره in Persian is not necessarily a disease (slowly eroding disease) but is a culturally rich/loaded word.
This unfamiliarity, perhaps, has led, for example, Costello, to translate the word as CANKER which covers parts (not all) of the emotional struggle in this surreal story:
“There are sores which slowly erode the mind in solitude like a kind of canker. It is impossible to convey a just idea of the agony which this disease can inflict. In general, people are apt to relegate such inconceivable sufferings to the category of the incredible.”

Health & Peace

To me, it was a fantastic narrative and I enjoyed reading each and every sentence. Yes, sometimes when Im teaching in my classes I terribly feel like speaking Persian even a single sentence; Sometimes I feel nothing can express my real feelings but a short piece of my mother tongue.
And I agree with tahmine in the inability of translations in conveying inner sensations of the writers.

Great writing! Were waiting to read more.

Thank you very much…

I often get similar feelings when I read some of the masterpieces written by Jalal-e- Al-e-ahmad and Sadegh Hedayat especially where they talk about their inner emotional struggles and conflicts and their rather sad and gloomy life in a narrative form. I always wonder whether there could ever be any English translations of those books (or any English book in general) that could cause the same unexplainable inner feelings and sensations of the Persian writings in me!

Sometimes our mother tongue gives us a kind of chill that no other language can bring about!

Beautiful writing, hope to see more!

Interestingly, usually young people who are emotionally more fragile than the grownups are sent abroad to be immersed in English!

best,
vahid

Thanks for sharing the personal experiences. It is poignant and triggers thought as well as questions the over-structured sources of knowledge which often devalue the personal experiences. I think the piece raises some fundamental questions about the purposes of the ideology of total immersion and the amount of agency individual have in such broad brush approach to social phenomenon which often kills the voice of individuals.

Great!

Khan