In the Tar of Night [Dar Qir-e Shab] by Sohrab Sepehri
![In the Tar of Night [Dar Qir-e Shab] by Sohrab Sepehri](https://alisalami.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/iranartmag-sohrab-sepehri.jpg)
In the Tar of Night [Dar Qir-e Shab] Long has this solitude been, Where silence paints the design of lips. A distant call beckons to me, But my feet are sunk in the tar of the night. There is no gap in this darkness: Walls and ceilings merge into one. Should a shadow glide across […]
Madeline By Sadeq Hedayat
The other evening I was there, in the little parlor. Her mother and sister were also present, the mother in gray and the daughters in red, matching the crimson velvet of the sofas. I leaned my elbow on the piano and watched them. There was silence, except for the needle of the gramophone playing the […]
Twenty Four Hours in Waking and Dreaming By Samad Behrangi
Dear Reader, I did not write the story of “Waking and Dreaming” to teach you a lesson. My intention is to make you more familiar with the children of my homeland and to encourage you to think about the cure for their ailments. If I were to endeavor to document everything that happened to me […]
Manifestation (Tajalli) By Sadeq Hedayat
As dusk began to weave its shadowy carpet across the sky, Hasmik pulled the brim of her hat down to cover her eyebrows and pulled the collar of her cloak closer, as if to ward off the encroaching cold. With swift, deliberate steps, she made her way home, her mind so ensnared by confused thoughts […]
The Couple By Ghazaleh Alizadeh
1 Dear listeners, think about the eternal truths that lie before us. Examine your conscience. The world stands on the edge of an unknown precipice. In these turbulent times, people’s actions are deviating from their past by engaging in endeavors far removed from the complexities of brain surgery. I assert this as one of the […]
Buried Alive [Zendeh Be Goor] By Sadeq Hedayat
![Buried Alive [Zendeh Be Goor] By Sadeq Hedayat](https://alisalami.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Sadeq-Hedayat-1024x576.jpeg)
My breath escapes me in ragged gaspings, tears run from my eyes, a bitter taste lingers in my mouth. My head spins, my heart clenches, my body lies exhausted, beaten, limp, weak on the bed. My arms, covered in marks from the injections, bear witness to my misery. The bed reeks of sweat and the […]
Seeking Redemption [Talab-e Amorzesh] By Sadeq Hedayat
Amidst the sweltering winds that whipped up the hot dust and sand and slapped the travelers in the face, the unyielding sun scorched and melted everything in its path. The monotonous clanging of iron and brass bells could be heard, synchronized with the camels’ steps. Their drooping necks and sullen, slack expressions signaled their dissatisfaction […]
The Vortex (Gerdab) By Sadeq Hedayat
Homayoun muttered to himself, his voice barely a whisper, “Can it really be? Is it conceivable? So young, she lies there in Shah Abdol Azim among thousands of other departed souls, nestled in the damp, cold earth… The shroud that envelops her. Never again will she experience the beginning of spring or the end of […]
The Indian Crow By Fereshteh Molavi
I wake up in Delhi to the cawing of a crow perched on a willow branch, to the dance of light on the shadow of a dream, to the scent of a tropical morning. Spring. The awakening of spring. The elation of travel. I pull aside the cotton curtain, open the window and the quiet […]
Who Should I Greet Now? By Simin Daneshvar
Who should I greet now? The lady principal has left us, Haj Ismail has disappeared without a trace and my precious daughter has become the prey of wolves in the wilderness… The cat has breathed its last, the tongs fell on the spider and sealed its fate. And now the snow envelops everything in its […]
The Behind-the-Curtain Doll By Sadeq Hedayat [Arusak Posht-e Pardeh]
The summer vacation had begun. In the corridor of the boys’ grammar school in Le Havre, the boarders left the school whistling and cheering with their suitcases in their hands. Only Mehrdad was standing still, holding his hat like a merchant whose ship had sunk, looking despairingly at his suitcase. The principal with his bald […]
The Claws By Sadeq Hedayat
When Seyyed Ahmad entered the house, he cast a suspicious glance across the courtyard, then knocked with his stick on the brown door of the room above the cistern and called softly: “Robabeh… Robabeh…!” The door opened and a pale, frightened girl came out: “Brother, is that you? Come up here.” She took her brother’s […]
The Last Day By Bahram Beyzai
As the 48-year-old Iranian writer Sadeq Hedayat makes his way to his apartment in the 18th arrondissement at 37 Rue Championnet bis on a gloomy afternoon in Paris, he meets two men who are waiting for him. They immediately inquire whether he has returned from the police station and whether he has received the necessary […]
The Chicken Coop By Mohammad Mohammadali
The phone rang. It was Kashefi. “What’s the status of Mr. Vali’s retirement?” “It’s likely to be finalized today or tomorrow.” “I’ve been considering something for him.” “Thank you for remembering our request, sir!” “Just a question, is he fit for strenuous work?” “Don’t be deceived by his bulky and flabby appearance; he single-handedly oversees […]
The Autumn-Stricken Valley By Jalal Al-e Ahmad
In the afternoon, the final whistle of the mine sounded traditionally in the cold, misty valleys of Zirab. The sound meandered everywhere: it snaked through the branches of the barren trees, slipped under the iron roofs and wooden cladding visible along the valleys, and penetrated the long, dark tunnels where it turned people’s lives into […]
Hajji Murad By Sadeq Hedayat
Hajji Murad stepped from the threshold of his store with a bold leap, smoothed the folds of his robe and fastened his silver belt before running his fingers through his henna-stained beard. He summoned his apprentice Hassan with a shout. Together they secured the store for the day. From the depths of his generous pocket, […]
The Darkroom By Sadeq Hedayat
During our moonlit journey through Khonsar, we were joined by a man wrapped in his dark raincoat with his wide-brimmed hat pulled down over his forehead, apparently to shield himself from the outside world and avoid conversation with his fellow travelers. He had a parcel tucked under his arm and carried it with him throughout […]
I Swear I am not a Whore by Houshang Golshiri
It was 4:30 p.m., and not everyone was expected to arrive until 5:00 pm. The table was almost ready, all that was missing was some ice, cucumber yogurt, a can opener, and the like. Moqaddasi, who lived just two streets away, could help us if he managed to come. He had the job of bringing […]
Customs and Taxes By Jalal Al-e Ahmad
At the border checkpoint, the process was efficient. My identity was verified by comparing my photograph to my face, and upon presenting my recently acquired smallpox vaccination certificate from Khorramshahr, which cost two tomans, I was allowed entry. A diligent policeman took charge of my suitcase, escorting me to the riverbank a short distance away. […]
Kanizu By Moniroo Ravanipour
Kanizu was dead. When Maryam left school and reached the street, she saw men in front of the “Tavakkoli” liquor store, uproariously laughing as they dragged a woman whose foot had slipped into a roadside ditch. The liquor store, situated a few hundred meters from Maryam’s school, was a site of daily discord. As the […]
Someone Else’s Child By Jalal Al-e Ahmad
What could I do? My husband was unwilling to take care of the child with me. The child, from my previous marriage, was not his, and my ex-husband had refused to take the child. What would someone else in my situation have done? I had to live my life too. If my current husband also […]
The Disgrace of Poverty by Iraj Pezeshkzad
Abolfath Khan, a friend of ours, bought a house for eighty-five thousand tomans. While this amount may seem trivial today, his friends and family considered it significant enough to warrant a celebration. However, Abolfath Khan opted for a modest gathering and invited ten to fifteen close and distant friends for tea and sweets to celebrate […]
The Story of my Glasses By Rasoul Parvizi
The event is so vivid that it penetrates the shadows of my memory and shines bright as daylight. It feels like it happened just hours ago and is still at the forefront of my memories. Until eighth grade, I considered eyeglasses a sign of foreign sophistication, much like education and neckties, worn by civilized people […]
Farsi is Sugar By Mohammad Ali Jamalzadeh
Nowhere else in the world is everyone so indiscriminately lumped together as in Iran. After five years of nomadic life and emotional turmoil, I had not yet caught a glimpse of Iran’s holy ground from the deck of the ship when I heard the chants of the Gilaki boat people from Anzali singing “Balam jan, […]
The Tangled Skein By Bahram Sadegh
There is an invisible force, like an invisible hand, which I cannot see but can feel and sense. It moves me and guides my actions. “ Look alive! Tilt your chin upwards. Unfold your forehead. Show us a grin Direct your gaze at the camera. I’ll count to three and you’d better hold still like […]
The School Principal: A Novel by Jalal Al-e Ahmad
The moment I sauntered in, cigarette in hand, I was more standoffish than a cat at a dog show. Lost in my own thoughts, I stood like a statue. After giving me the nod to park myself, the head of the Culture Department took a glance at my hand and then went back to scribbling […]
The Song of the Reed Flute by Rumi [In Verse Translation]
The Masnavi, also known as Mathnawi, is a remarkable literary work crafted by the renowned Persian poet and mystic, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi, more commonly known as Rumi. Comprising of an astounding 26,000 couplets divided into six volumes, this magnum opus stands as one of the most significant contributions to Persian mystical literature and Iranian […]
Lucifer: A Short Story by Reza Joulaee [English Translation]
The firmament glowed with an ominous hue, an ethereal crimson that cast an eerie pallor upon the desolate landscape. Gusts of wind, laden with particles of earth, swirled with an almost mournful grace, rustling the parched branches of the trees. Sensing the impending tempest, the man hastened to secure his surroundings, his hands deftly manipulating […]
The Beggar [Geda]: A Short Story by Gholam-Hossein Sa’edi [English Translation]
Not even a month had passed and I had gone to Qom and back three times. On the last trip, I felt as if a premonition had taken root in my heart, foretelling trouble ahead. Nevertheless, I set off in a battered car in the middle of the night, and at dawn, before the sun […]
Talking Shakespeare: Translating Shakespeare’s plays into Persian
Ali Salami is an associate professor of English literature and translation studies at the University of Tehran. In 2014, he organized and managed the First International Conference on Shakespeare in Iran at the University of Tehran, which featured Stephen Greenblatt (Harvard University) and Mark Thornton Burnett (Queens University) as its keynote speakers. Salami has embarked […]
Forough Farrokhzad: Selected Poems [English Edition]
One of the leading modern poets of Iran, Forough Farrokhzad was born and brought up in a military family. She married Parviz Shapur, the well-known Iranian satirist at the age of 16. The following selection has been translated by Ali Salami. Forough Farrokhzad learned painting and sewing and moved to Ahvaz with her husband. Thence […]