Simin Daneshvar

Simin Dāneshvar سیمین دانشور
Born	(1921-04-28)April 28, 1921 Shiraz, Persia
Died	March 8, 2012(2012-03-08) (aged 90) Tehran, Iran (Persia)
Nationality	Iranian
Occupation(s)	Academic, novelist, fiction writer, literary translator
Spouse	Jalal Al-e-Ahmad (1950−1969, his death)

Simin Dāneshvar (Persian: سیمین دانشور;‎ April 28, 1921, Shiraz, Persia – March 8, 2012, Tehran) was an Iranian academic, novelist, fiction writer and translator. Daneshvar had a number of firsts to her credit. In 1948, her collection of Persian short stories was the first by an Iranian woman to be published. The first novel by an Iranian woman was her Savushun ("Mourners of Siyâvash," 1969), which went on to become a bestseller. Daneshvar's Playhouse, a collection of five stories and two autobiographical pieces, is the first volume of translated stories by an Iranian woman author.

Personal Life

Simin Daneshvar was born on 28 April 1921 in Shiraz, Persia. Her father, Mohammad Ali Danesvhar, was a physician. Her mother was a painter. Daneshvar attended the English bilingual school, Mehr Ain.

Daneshvar entered the Persian literature department at the University of Tehran in the fall of 1938. In 1941, her third year of university, her father died, and to support herself she began writing pieces for Radio Tehran as the "Nameless Shirazi." She wrote about cooking and food as well as other things. She also began writing for the foreign affairs section of a newspaper in Tehran, since she could translate from English.

In 1948, when she was 27, she published Atash-e Khamoosh (Quenched Fire). It was the first collection of short stories published by a woman in Iran, and as such gave her a measure of fame, but in the years since Daneshvar has refused to republish the work because she is embarrassed by the juvenile quality of the writing.

Daneshvar continued studying at the university. Her Ph.D. dissertation, "Beauty as Treated in Persian Literature," was approved in 1949 under the supervision of Professor Badiozzaman Forouzanfar.

In 1950, Daneshvar married the well-known Iranian short story writer and novelist Jalal Al-e Ahmad.

In 1952, she traveled to the United States as a Fulbright Fellow working on creative writing at Stanford University with Wallace Stegner. While there, she wrote in English and published two short stories.

When she returned to Iran, she joined the faculty at University of Tehran. Though she was an exceptional teacher, SAVAK prevented her from ever reaching the status of professor. She had to translate many books in order to support her household, often was earning more than Jalal. In 1961 she published "Shahri Chun Behesht" (A City Like Paradise), twelve years after her first short story collection. In 1963 she attended the Harvard University International Summer Session, a seminar of 40 members from around the world. In 1969, her novel, Suvashun, was published.

Her husband, Jalal, died that same year, in their summer home on the Caspian Sea. They had no children. Daneshvar continued teaching until 1979, when she retired. Since then, she has devoted herself to writing.

Death

Daneshvar was in a hospital in Paris because of acute respiratory problems. She was released after one months in August 2005. She died at her house in Tehran on 8 March 2012 after a long influenza disease. Her body is set to be buried on 12 March at Firouzabadi mosque in Ray next to her husband, Jalal Al-e-Ahmad.

Works

As an author and translator, Daneshvar writes sensitively about the Iranian woman and her life.

Daneshvar's most successful work Savushun, a novel about settled and tribal life in and around her home-town of Shiraz, was published in 1969. A best-seller of all Persian novels, it has undergone at least sixteen reprints and has been translated into many languages. She has also contributed to the periodicals Sokhan and Alefba.

In 1981, she completed a monograph on Jalal Al-e Ahmad, Ghoroub-e Jalal (The Sunset of Jalal's Days).

Daneshvar's stories reflect reality rather than fantasy. They contain themes such as child theft, adultery, marriage, childbirth, sickness, death, treason, profiteering, illiteracy, ignorance, poverty and loneliness. The issues she deals with are the social problems of the 1960s and 1970s, which have immediacy and credibility for the reader. Her inspiration is drawn from the people around her. In her own words: "Simple people have much to offer. They must be able to give freely and with peace of mind. We, too, in return, must give to them to the best of our abilities. We must , with all our heart , try to help them acquire what they truly deserve."

Novels

• Savushun (1969)
• Wandering Island [Jazire-ye Sargardani] (1992)
• Wandering Cameleer [Sareban-e Sargardan] (2001)
• Selection [Entekhab] (2007)

Short Story Collections

• The Quenched Fire [Atash-e Khamoosh] (1948)
• A City Like Paradise [Shahri Chun Behesht] (1961)
• To Whom Shall I Say Hello? [Be Ki Salaam Konam?] (1980)

Translations

• Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw (1949)
• "Enemies" by Anton Chekhov (1949)
• Beatrice by Arthur Schnitzler (1953)
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1954)
• The Human Comedy by William Saroyan (1954)
• Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (1972)
• The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov (2003)
• Works by Alberto Moravia and Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Translations of Daneshvar's work

• In English, Savushun' is translated by M.R. Ghanoonparvar (1990).
• A second English translation of the novel was titled Persian Requiem, and is translated by Roxane Zand (1992).
• Daneshvar's Playhouse, a collection of short stories that includes "The Loss of Jalal", is translated and arranged by Maryam Mafi (1989).
• Sutra and Other Stories, a collection of short stories (1994).
• Translation into Spanish: El bazar Vakil, Grupo Editorial Norma, Santafé de Bogotá, Colombia, 1992. Work by Hernardo Valencia Goekel, from the English version called Daneshvar's Playhouse (1989).
• Translation into German: Drama der Trauer - Savushun. Glaré Verlag, Frankfurt/Main 1997.
• In India, Savushun is translated into Malayalam by S.A.Qudsi.
• In Norway: "En familie fra Shiraz" translated into Norwegian by N. Zandjani. Gyldendal Norsk forlag. Oslo 2007.
• Also Japanese, Russian, Chinese, and Turkish.

See also

• Iranian women
• List of Iranian women
• Savushun

External links

• The iconic Persian writer Simin Daneshvar Passes Away in Tehran (Payvand News/PDN)
• Simin Daneshvar on Iran Chamber Society
• Suvashun at Encyclopedia Iranica
• Mage Publishers' biography