Italian publisher bids for presenting Iranian works to fellow countrymen

1394/02/19-09:37

Italian publisher, Felicita Ferraro has declared his intent for presenting Iranian works to his countrymen through translation.

The Italian cultural activist announced his bid during a panel discussion on Persian literature that was held on Thursday as a sideline programs at the 28^th Tehran International Book Fair (TIBF) that is underway in Tehran.

During the session that was held in a key section of the fairground called ‘House of Men of Letters,’ panelists debated the status of Persian literature on the track of globalization. The panel debate was also joined by Iranian author, Mohammad Tolu’ee, British translator of Iranian books, Caroline Croskerry, and Iranian author and literary critic, Ahmad Shakeri.

Ferraro started his remarks by reviewing a history of translation into Italian of Iranian books, saying a first such translation was carried out during the Safavid era, four centuries ago. The Italian figure added however that those translations were limited to classic works and were confined to academic centers.

Director of Ponte33 publishing company said he came in touch with the Iranian culture and publications when he was serving as cultural attaché in the Italian embassy in Tehran in a diplomatic tenure that lasted as many as ten years.

The publisher noted that while Italian research centers and academies have a good command of classic Persian literature, they know little about the contemporary Persian literature and the current status of affairs in the Islamic Republic.

In the same vein, the former cultural attaché regrettably acknowledged that there was a negative propaganda at work against Iran in his country.

The publisher said his company as a key publishing agenda had been striving to present Iran, adding the Iranian cinema and literature are more significant among any other themes.

Ferraro said Italy was among the first European states to establish a Persian language department at its universities in the late nineteenth century with Rome and Napoli universities having rendered the oeuvre of Nezami as well as the masterpiece of Ferdowsi, Shahnameh (Letter of Kings) in full.

According to Ferraro, Persian works were out of the limelight for several decades until an Italian translator, Alexander Bozani rendered Nizami Ganjavi’s rhyming couplets, ‘Haft Paykar’ and a few other Persian books into his mother tongue.

Persian works, the Italian publisher said, came back to the limelight a few decades ago in Italy when the community became curious about political developments in a newly-established Islamic Republic of Iran in 1990s, prompting university professors to translate Iranian publications that subsequently received a huge welcome among Italians.

The Italian publisher was regretful however that the Persian publications rendered into Italian in the past few years largely present a negative and unreal face of the contemporary Iran, adding his company had initiated to mend the problem by taking up those publications that embody the truth about the realities on the ground in the Islamic Republic.

Ferraro acknowledged the task was difficult as the target community had yet to develop interest in book reading and rather need to be stimulated much in order to pick the books.

The publisher expressed hope the Iranian publishing corps would not forget the company when deciding to make partnership with Italian publishers.