Persian literati to review works of Iranian Kurdish translators Qazi, Yunesi

TEHRAN,Feb.23(MNA) – Iranian scholars will come together for a seminar on February 25 in Sanandaj, the capital of the northwestern Iranian province of Kordestan, to discuss works rendered into Persian by the two Iranian Kurdish translators Mohammad Qazi and Ebrahim Yunesi. Articles on identity, politics and ideology in works by Yunesi and Qazi, their roles in creating new genres in contemporary literature, their share in introducing Western literature, and their style of translation will be presented during the three-day seminar. Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati, and several scholars including Mahmud Dowlatabadi, Mir Jalaleddin Kazzazi and Karim Zamani are expected to attend the opening ceremony, which will be held at the Public Libraries Office. In addition, several literary scholars from Iraqi Kurdistan have also been invited to the colloquium. Qazi (1913-1998) was born in Mahabad, a Kurdish city in West Azarbaijan Province. He moved to Tehran and continued his studies where he developed a lasting love for literature and became proficient in the French language. Qazi graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Tehran in 1939. Although, Qazi was sufficiently familiar with English, French remained his language of choice. He is remembered as a “distinguished man of letters” and as a translator who will be “irreplaceable for many years to come”. “Mother” (Pearl Buck), “Don Quixote” (Miguel de Cervantes), “Madame Bovary” (Gustave Flaubert), “The Call of the Wild” (Jack London) and “Le Petit Prince” (Antoine de Saint Exupery) are among his praiseworthy translations. Born in Baneh, Kordestan Province, Yunesi (1927-2012) translated several books on literary criticism including “Aspects of the Novel” by E.M. Foster, “The Complexion of Russian Literature: A Cento” by Andrew Field and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “A Writer’s Diary”. “My Mother Has Cried Twice”, “The Stranger’s Cemetery”, “A Winter without Spring”, “Dada Shirin”, “Welcome” and “Pray for Arman” are some of the books he has written during his career. He also translated a number of world literary classics into Persian including Miguel de Cervantes’ “Don Quixote”, Alexandre Dumas’ “The Three Musketeers” and Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations”.