De Roulet’s novel reviewed at IAF

Daniel De Roulet, Swiss ambassador to Iran Philippe Welti and a number of Iranian literary figures took part in the event.

Holding such events in Iran indicates Iranians’ interest in and respect for Swiss literature and De Roulet , Welti said during the meeting.

He went on to say that he had already introduced two Swiss writers to the Persian speaking people. “Now it is time for introducing a French language writer from my country,” he added 

“Un Dimanche a la Montagne” (A Sunday in the Mountains) was translated into Persian by Soltanpur.

Translator Hamed Fuladvand praised De Roulet as a prominent European author and expressed hope that the event would help promote a greater understanding of his works in Iran.

De Roulet also talked at the event.

Switzerland is often known as a politically neutral country but certain authors have questioned this belief and say that Switzerland was not so neutral during and after World War II, he stated.

He went on to say that he was one of the students who protested in May 1968 in France and that in his novel he aims to tell the story of his generation and to confess that he had made a mistake in his youth.

“I have not become a conservative yet; but in this book I meant to show that during the Cold War, ideology would not let me see many realities. I wanted to expose this blindness which came from ideological beliefs. I wrote this book to tell the young generation to distance themselves from their beliefs before making judgment,” he said.

“I still have the same beliefs I had in my youth, but in a different form,” he added.

“I guess bitter experiences bring about sharp sight. We have certain beliefs in our youth and try to prove their truth; but as we gather experience we also revise those beliefs. This is the conceptual course De Roulet’s novel follows,” Iranian author Gholamreza Zatalian said.

Iranian actor Davud Rashidi, who graduated from the University of Geneva in 1960, recited parts of De Roulet’s novel in French.

Born in 1944 in Geneva, Daniel de Roulet has written in both French and German. His recent novels are published in Paris and carry the motifs of running and the color blue: “The Blue Line”, “The Blue Century” and “Grey-Blue”.

SB/AP

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MNA