Several Iranian writers and translators including Reza Amirkhani, Morteza Sarhangi, Mohsen Momeni, Ali Dehbashi and Ghanoonparvar and his American wife Diane attended the ceremony. Writer Ghaffarzadegan was absent to attend his sister’s funeral ceremony.
Ghanoonparvar is the professor of Persian and comparative literature at the University of Texas.
Momeni, the head of the Literary Creation Center of the bureau made the opening speech and expressed his thanks to Ghanoonparvar and his wife and said, “This couple has made great endeavors to promote Persian language and literature in the world.”
He also noted that this is the third book by Iranian authors which have been published in the United States, adding, “Book publishing is very hard in the U.S., and it was the great efforts by Ghanoonparvar which made this possible.”
Ghanoonparvar was the next who made a speech and said, “Some translators make use of footnotes in their works a lot and refer the reader to the footnotes all the time. While, I believe if a story needs so many footnotes, it is not a story then. In translating a work, we must preserve some of its local color, for example, the reader must feel that he is reading a translated work, not an original book. The concept must be right, but it must not be necessarily the same as what it is in the English language.”
He also explained that in the world of today he must choose a story which attracts more readers, at least 4000, adding, “We Iranians must learn to be part of this modernized world. We must preserve our identity and remove the obstacles. No one can steal our identity but we must also open our eyes and know what is going on in the world.”
The ceremony ended with handing a tableau to Diane Ghanoonparvar for her long efforts in developing Persian literature in the United States.
RM
END
MNA
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