Foreigners say that Persian is like poetry

Persian is one of the sweetest languages ​​in the world. I’m not the only one saying this. Of course, it is true that I am Iranian and naturally like our language, but this language is interesting for people in other countries of the world; It is a language they love, it is audible as well as melodic.

Following the conversation of Shahrvand newspaper with Prince Egoal, an Iranian writer living in Turkey, Persian is one of the sweetest languages ​​in the world. I’m not the only one saying this. Of course, it is true that I am Iranian and naturally like our language, but this language is interesting for people in other countries of the world; It is a language they love, it is audible as well as melodic. I have heard this from writers, writers and even ordinary people in other parts of the world who say that your language is like poetry; It is as if you are reciting poetry to each other when you speak.

Ms. Prince Egoal, an Iranian writer born in Tehran who has lived in Turkey for many years. She is fluent in her mother tongue, Persian, and speaks well, although she has studied literature in the form of stories and novels in Turkish. He has 4 books that he has published with prominent Turkish publishers. Before that, of course, he had not published a book in Persian in Iran, until last month, his third novel, entitled “Tears of Isfahan”, was translated by Nazli Elmi and published by Honar Publishing in Iran.

Prince Egoal is one of the founders of literary tourism from Turkey to Iran, who a few years ago invited prominent writers such as Nadim Gorsel and Aisha Colin to Iran. The travels of these writers to Iran were well covered in the literary media of our country, but in this interview, Prince Egoal also spoke about the extraordinary coverage of their travels in the Turkish media. He is also introducing Iranian culture and literature in the form of a modern narrative in Turkey; An event entitled “One Thousand and One Nights in One Night” which he describes in detail in this conversation. Prince Egual did not limit the subject of literary tourism to Turkish literature, and last month he brought Spanish enthusiasts to Iran. In this conversation, we also asked about the group’s trip; Also about the meeting that was dedicated to the novel “Tears of Isfahan” in one of the “Nights of Bukhara”. read.

You are Iranian and you write in Istanbul Turkish. You are also a member of the Turkish Writers’ Association. Let me start here. How many books have you written?

I was born in Tehran and I have been living outside Iran for 31 years. I grew up in Turkey. I learned Turkish later and I write in this language. I have 4 books; A collection of stories and 3 novels written in Istanbul Turkish. As you said, I am a member of the Turkish Writers’ Association. In fact, I am the only non-Turkish writer of this association, which is an honor for me and my country.

How did the Turkish-speaking audience react to your work? Have they communicated? How was the reception of your books in Turkey?

The reaction of the audience in Turkey was very positive; More than I expected. In the explanation, it should be said that I am a Persian speaker and I know Persian. In addition, I have studied and learned a lot about the Ottoman Turkish language. At the same time, I have a complete command of the contemporary Turkish language. All these reasons have made me have a different language in my works. In fact, the use of Turkish words, Persian words, and Ottoman words, and the connection that I have made between them in my works, has led me to reach a certain style in my novels. In addition, Turkish audiences have not only communicated with the language I have used in my work, but have also shown a special interest in the stories I have used in my work; So much so that they were even surprised and said that we did not know some of the facts you had said about Iran, and that we became acquainted with these facts through these novels; From the daily life of Iranians and their ancient habits and traditions to the way of thinking, mourning and celebrations and different periods of contemporary Iranian history. In addition to what I narrated as the imposed war of Iran until the period of sanctions and after that, I said a lot about Iran; From the history, literature, architecture, customs and lifestyle of Iranians.

I also saw pictures of your presence among a non-Persian-speaking population who were walking and narrating parts of the Shahnameh to them. It’s an interesting event that you have figured out. What is the event? Where is it held? What do you read to your audience?

“One Thousand and One Nights in One Night”; This is my title in Turkey. It consists of two scenes during which I am the narrator of Iranian literature on stage in both Persian and Turkish. In this event, I am not only the narrator of Shahnameh, but I will also perform works by Nezami, Hafez, Saadi, Shahriyar, Shams and Jalaluddin Balkhi. This narration is also accompanied by the art of dear musicians from our country with me on stage. I had such a project in mind for several years, until the first time it was implemented in a Turkish hall three years ago.

Where?

In Istanbul. It also had a good reflection. I wanted to do this once or twice a year; Because it is a kind of narrator and narrator of ancient Iranian literature and music, but due to Corona, there was a gap between the first and second performances. The second performance will take place on January 12 in one of Istanbul’s largest halls, the Zerlu Center Platinum Hall; A hall with a capacity of more than 700 people. Tickets are on sale at passo and Zorlu PSM. This is one of my works that I have tried to focus on in recent years, because I wanted to introduce Iranian literature at least to our longtime neighbor; I have also shown the impact of Iranian literature on world literature to the audience.

Parts of your narration for the Turkish-speaking audience are in Persian. How do Turkic languages ​​react when you read Persian poetry to them? How much do they welcome your carriers? How do they react?

Persian is one of the sweetest languages ​​in the world. I’m not the only one saying this. Of course, it is true that I am Iranian and naturally like our language, but this language is interesting for people in other countries of the world; It is a language they love, it is audible as well as melodic. I have heard this from writers, writers and even ordinary people in other parts of the world who say that your language is like poetry; It is as if you are reciting poetry to each other when you speak. I have already performed the same modern narrative “One Thousand and One Nights in One Night” in short formats of 3 to 5 minutes in the universities where I teach or in various organizations and associations of history and literature.

Can you give an example? For example, what part did you perform?

For example, I performed the debate between Khosrow and Farhad in Persian for the audience and I had very interesting reactions. They said it was as if we were listening to a poem whose language we knew, although we did not understand the meaning of its words. But in general, Persian is a very warm and friendly language for Turkic languages. On stage, I read to them all during the two scenes, with a translation that I did myself, so that I would not read only in Persian. Because I know which words are sweeter to them, I use the same words and of course I continue to work on translating them. I have added new items to the January 12 performance. In general, the performance will be in Persian and Turkish.

An interesting event took place a few years ago by inviting famous Turkish writers to Iran. I think you invited “Ayesha Colin” to Iran. How was his experience visiting Iran?

Yes; It was almost 6 years ago that I decided to launch literary tourism from Turkey to Iran, because Iran has such a capability in terms of literary tourism in its entirety and beauty. In fact, Iran is one of the important points of world literature; From Hazrat Hafez, Saadi, Shams, Khayyam and Attar Neyshabouri to contemporary poets such as Shahriyar as well as contemporary writers. We are a very rich country in this field. Of course, before starting literary tourism, I considered it necessary, as an Iranian writer who is a member of the Turkish Writers’ Association, to first invite writers to Iran. First, I started this invitation with one of the Turkish writers and my good friend, Mr. Nadim Gorsel. Then we came to Iran with Ms. Ayesha Colin. They came to Iran at the invitation of his servant.

I would also like to say that the works of Bandeh and Aisha Colin are published by a publisher. He was also the first to come to Iran. These two world-renowned writers had very positive reactions to their presence in Iran and regretted why they had not come to Iran until that day. After that trip, Mr. Nadim Gorsel wrote a book about Iran, and Ms. Ayesha Kolin wrote a long article in the Turkish daily Jomhuri, which received very positive reactions from the audience. I feel that after the writers’ trip to Iran and the extraordinary media reactions we saw, Iran’s tours became even stronger. Because at the same time, for many years, I have established a discussion in the conference halls of various universities and governmental and non-governmental associations and organizations abroad with the title that you know Iran as an Iranian. I have worked hard over the years to attract the attention of Turkish audiences and tourists to my country as an Iranian lady and Iranian writer. Fortunately, I have received more and more good reactions in this field until today, and I am proud that I was able to be a designer and ideologue of literary tourism from Turkey to Iran and start this issue.

You have started the same thing in Spain; Inviting different figures of this country to Iran and introducing historical places and antiquities to them. How did they react?

I was in Spain for about seventeen or eighteen months during the Corona pandemic. During this time I wrote novels, as well as plays and short stories. I was also trying to become fully acquainted with the Spanish language; Because when you want to promote literary tourism, you need to be fluent in the language. In this way, I also managed to take positive steps in Spain, so that after this period of Corona, about 3 weeks ago, I sent the first literary tourists from Spain to Iran. We were with these loved ones in Iran for 11 days and this group was very surprised and happy with their presence in Iran. They were very satisfied and regretted why they had never come to Iran. They enjoyed Iranian literature, history and culture. In fact, the story of literary tourism from Spain to Iran was started by me three weeks ago.

Translation of your recently published book into Persian; “Tears of Isfahan”. Tell us a little about the theme of the novel.

Yes; “Tears of Isfahan” is my fourth book and third novel. It is also my first book to be translated into Persian. As an Iranian born in Tehran and Persian is my mother tongue, my book has been translated into my mother tongue. I think this is a kind of mixed tragedy and comedy; Both painful and funny, but enjoyable. This novel, translated by Ms. Nazli Elmi and with the great efforts of Ms. Afarin Zabihmand, was recently published in “Honar” publishing house in Iran.

What a good cover design.

Ms. Zabihmand worked very hard on this issue; Also for the book to be published in Iran as soon as possible. That’s why I have to thank Honar for publishing it here; Also, Ms. Nazli Elmi, who worked hard to translate and was able to hand over the book to the publisher in a short time.

You have taken two narratives in your novel. What is the story of each of these two narratives?

In this novel, you are faced with two stories; The first takes place in Isfahan during the Safavid period 320 years ago, the second occurs again in Isfahan in 2018. In these stories, I have dealt with the love of two couples in parallel. This is basically a message to society that we build barriers and taboos with our own hands and adhere to them that have nothing to do with religions; However, we have attributed them to tradition and we believe in them. In fact, the content of the book is this subject. I also did some research and applied a technique in the novel that was very enjoyable for me and I feel the same for the audience.

A session was also devoted to your novel “Bukhara Nights”. How did the Iranian critics talk?

Yes; The novel “Tears of Isfahan” was the subject of one of the nights of Bukhara. Dear and valuable teacher, Mr. Ali Dehbashi dedicated one of Bukhara Wednesdays to this novel. Last week, in this meeting, the novel “Tears of Isfahan” was reviewed in the presence of Ms. Nahid Tabatabai, Pajand Soleimani and Sajedeh Salimi. It was also an honor for me to address the “Tears of Isfahan” with professors such as Ms. Tabatabai and Mr. Ali Dehbashi. Very thoughtful and effective critiques and speeches about the book were presented in this meeting. The general atmosphere of the meeting was also positive and for this reason it was very pleasant for me.