Memories in Clear Obscure: Written and translated into English by Farideh Mahdavi Damghani

This book was awarded the International Author Excellence Award 2026. This heartfelt and occasionally humorous memoir recounts the author’s childhood memories in Tehran, Iran, in 1972. It reflects on her close bond with her late father, Professor Ahmad Mahdavi Damghani (deceased on June 17th 2022): a distinguished scholar of Persian and Arab Literature and Mysticism, who emigrated to the United States and became a Professor at Harvard University after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Alongside her best friend, family, and other kind-hearted acquaintances, she recalls a time of joyful innocence and magical discoveries about human nature. Her father’s deep erudition and love for classical European literature nurtured her inner world, introducing her to the great characters of Hugo, Tolstoy, the Brontës, Dickens, and Dostoevsky. He gently guided a dreamy, bright, and timid girl growing up in a modernizing Iran, encouraging her to embrace culture and art in all forms without imposing religious constraints. Through his actions and choices, he taught her lifelong moral lessons infused with warmhearted Persian affection and the good humor emblematic of the Iranian people. This all unfolded during Iran’s golden era: a time of cultural awakening, hope, and gradual modernization before the Revolution altered the country’s course. This rich cultural and intellectual environment shaped Farideh Mahdavi Damghani into the renowned translator she is today, fluent in four languages and responsible for translating over 664 classical, modern, and spiritual works, including the Complete Works of Dante Alighieri (Divine Comedy, Vita Nova, Convivio, De Monarchia), Milton’s Paradise Lost , the complete comicals of Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde, along with important other literary works by Gide, Stendhal, Jorge Luis Borges, Umberto Eco, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Giacomo Leopardi, Petrarch, and even the Analects of Confucius into Farsi, bridging Cultures and voices across the world.

© 2025 Farideh Mahdavi Damghani (E-bog): 6610001056896

Oversættere: Farideh Mahdavi Dāmghāni

Udgivelsesdato

E-bog: 14. september 2025