INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
TEHRAN – Candle and Fog, the London-based Iranian-British publishing house, plans to introduce the first and only complete Spanish
translation of the Shahnameh on Tuesday in a special meeting at the National Museum of Iran.Published in seven volumes, the Shahnameh has
been translated into Spanish by Beatriz de Salas Rafiee, a Spanish professor at the Tehran Islamic Azad University.In a press release
published on Thursday, Candle and Fog director Afshin Shahnetabar said, “After ten years of continuous efforts by Mrs
Beatriz de Salas, finally, the birthday of the complete Spanish translation of the Shahnameh, the unparalleled work of Persian literature,
has arrived.”“I would like to take the opportunity of thanking Mrs
Nazanin Nozari for her crucial role in the creation of this book,” he added.Persian literature scholars believe that Ferdowsi’s epic
masterpiece Shahnameh (The Book of Kings) can be considered as a preserving force keeping the culture and customs of the Iranian people
alive. In a verse from the book, Ferdowsi wrote, “I toiled much over thirty years, by the Persian language I remade Iran.” The verses
refer to the fact that Ferdowsi spent 30 years writing the Shahnameh over a millennium ago. The Spanish edition, which is comprised of 5000
pages, has been translated based on a Persian version corrected and streamlined by top Persian literature expert Mehdi Mohaqqeq, Shahnetabar
said earlier.Salas Rafiee began translating the Shahnameh nine years ago and Javier Rodriguez, a Spanish professor of Allameh Tabatabai
University in Tehran, collaborated as an editor
The Iranian Spanish language scholar Nazanin Nozari did the proofreading
The cover of the book has been designed by Iranian two-time Hans Christian Andersen Award nominee Pejman Rahimizadeh.Parts of the
Shahnameh have been published in several languages in the world.A complete French translation of the book by Belgian Iranologist Pierre
Lecoq was published in 2019 by Les Belles Lettres. Photo: A poster for the unveiling of a Spanish translation of the Shahnameh at the
National Museum of Iran. MMS/YAW
