Why is it that when
it comes to Iranian culture or anything Iranian or Persian we are always on the
teaching end of the stick? It seems like the world has amnesia, and we are
constantly explaining how Iranian/Persian art and culture has contributed to
this or that. For once I would like to go up to an average American and
have them know something about us.
Since that isn't going to happen anytime soon, we have to
go on. In that tradition of bringing our culture to the west, enter Niloufar
Talebi, the one woman Force du Perse of Iranian Contemporary Poetry (Sher-e-No).
Her goal is to bring Contemporary Poetry to a global audience
through a series of translation projects, which have been accompanied by an
array of multi-media events, such as live theatrical performances of the poems
and their rendition into short videos like music videos for the poems, which
have shown at film festivals and will air on television in the future. As a
translator, Talebi attends conferences and presents panels all year round to
promote her brand of translating Iranian literature within its literary and
historical context, without fetishization, which so much of eastern literature
is subject to in the hands of translators who project a skewed perspective onto
the literature. But that is an exciting discussion for a different time! Such is
the dramatic weight of this form, that it takes all senses to grasp
it.
Unlike classical Persian poetry such as Hafez, Saadi and the
like, Contemporary Poetry is an entirely free and unbounded form. About the
closest thing I can think of is the American poetry of the Beat Generation.
Poets such as Ginsberg, Kerouac, and even Bob Dylan expressed emotions and
feelings and ideas, so wonderfully abstract, they have become institutionalized
in the American psyche.
And so goes our Contemporary Poetry. Giants of the form
like Shamloo, Farrokhzad and Sepehri blow minds with such evocative imagery and
emotion you see sound, and hear color, concepts and ideas too fantastic for a
historically oppressed culture to have produced. Yet is has produced them. Now
hopefully for all to see. No longer a secret pleasure for those brave enough to
consider the message.
I recently got a chance to speak with Niloufar, I found her to
be exceptionally competent, focused on this important mission, and more, she has
a plan! Here is the conversation.
How did you get into this?
I was brought up in a literary family. Both my parents provided
us with as many books as you can imagine. We took what seemed like weekly trips
to the bookstore row near The University of Tehran and would come back with
stacks and stacks of books.
What was it about this form of Persian poetry that connected
you to it?
I was also lucky enough to have learned from Ahmad Shamloo, when
he visited my parents socially for a few years. So a combination of the two I am
sure, led me to study Comparative Literature. I concentrated on modern and
post-modern art and literature--1850 to present--and then got an MFA in Writing
and Literature. I am partial to the era I concentrate on and have always felt a
deep connection to the spirit around the late 1800’s all over the world that led
to the artistic movements of 20th Century and now the new millennium. In 2003 I
founded The Translation Project to bring contemporary Iranian literature to the
world stage because I thought the Nima and post-Nima era, basically the
modernist-into-contemporary period of Iranian literature has not yet made itself
widely present in translation. Our first project concentrates on the poetry of
Iranian poets who live outside Iran since the revolution, but we intend to
tackle prose as well as poetry of the entire era I just spoke of.
So what is your personal background?
I was born in London to Iranian parents and lived in Tehran
intermittently until I left Iran at fifteen. I went to Ettefaagh School in
Tehran, boarding school in the UK and public schools in France and the US. I
studied Comparative Literature at the University of California at Irvine at a
time when Jacques Derrida was still alive and teaching there. Then I got my MFA
at Bennington College in Vermont and learned from wonderful contemporary
American writers such as Philip Lopate, Sven Birkerts, Henri Cole, Robert Bly,
Jason Shinder and Lynne Sharon Schwartz.
What was the first poem you read that made you go,
"Wow!"
To be honest, I don’t remember the very first poem that wowed
me. It was more of a slow progression of hits. I was very young and through my
parents' encouragement, I read a lot of literature, particularly the Western
Canon, both in English and in Persian translation. So I had an instinctive
understanding of meter and rhyme early on. But I can tell you when the first
time I FELT poetry was: I must have been about 7 or so, and I was standing at my
childhood bedroom window in Tehran on a white winter day, watching the big
snowflakes fall slowly. Suddenly I was compelled to take out my notebook and
found myself spontaneously composing words about falling snow! It had line
breaks and a minimalist efficacy to it and I had the sense that it was a perfect
thing and that this sentient moment was what they called poetry! I wish that
notebook was not one of the casualties of migrating from Iran.
Is there a favorite poet?
You mean poets! There are so many! You have to understand I was
not just immersed in Iranian poetry. I love Rumi’s Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi,
Forough Farrokhzad -of course, then Lee-Young Li, Mary Oliver, Rilke, George
Seferis, Derek Walcot, Sappho translated by Willis Barnstone.
So in terms of the contemporary poets that I have selected to
translate for my upcoming Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Poetry Around
the World, for example, I love Amir-Hossein Afrasiabi’s fresh voice and
tender subject matter. I love Granaz Moussavi’s mastery of language and her
current-ness while referencing the classics. I love Shahrouz Rashid’s work
because he has the ability to engage us in epic poetry without writing an epic
poem. I love Abbas Saffari’s sense of humor and his narrator’s refusal to be
defeated, even in the most profound circumstances. I love Ziba Karbassi’s
uniqueness of language and because you can really sense the fervor of the moment
the poems came to her, even if they have been revised for craft. I love Jamshid
Moshkani’s poetry because it’s so direct and he’s not afraid to write about his
fears. The list goes on and on… Oh, and I love the poem called, “The Glass
Essay” by Anne Carson; it’s closest to the kind of writing I do
myself.
Recently Iranian rock musicians like O-Hum have taken to using Hafez and other classical poetry and fusing
the poems as lyrics with rock or grunge music. What do you think of this, would
the use of Contemporary Poetry, be suited to music, or would you want it
to stand pure and on its own. Should this line be crossed?
I am not a purist in the sense that I believe in the status quo.
If we look closely at the definition of Tradition, for example, as written about
beautifully by T.S. Eliot in his famous essay, “Tradition and the Individual
Talent”, nothing new is ever created if young artists don’t take risks and try
to change what they have learned from the masters. It’s part of the artist's job
description, to push the boundaries and offer new perspectives. With the advent
of instant communication and global access to information, art forms from
different cultures will have to intermingle, rock will mix with classical
poetry, as classical Indian music has recently mixed with techno. Inspiration
comes to artists from many sources. Wouldn’t you rather hear Hafez than some
degrading lyrics some Hip Hop artists have reverted to? If O-Hum is furthering
Hafez to a new generation, then I think they are a great conduit.
Why is it important for Iranians to acquaint / re-acquaint
themselves with Contemporary Poetry? What do you think this form says
about us, as compared to say, traditional classical poetry that in my view, does
a better job of saying who we were, rather than who we are.
Each human being carries a sense of identity within him or
herself, what I like to think of as a work-in-progress. Who we are is not
static, it is additive and constantly revised moment by moment. Human beings are
always seeking answers, seeking to know themselves and their world. This is the
idea behind the Human Genome project. To that end, immigrants and their children
will always be compelled to ask questions about their heritage. So at one point
or another, Iranians, and their second-generation children, who may not have
kept up with Iranian culture and literature, will become curious about it. I
think at times like this, when the US-Iran foreign policy can use some help,
cultural exchanges are even more important. Iranians should be represented by
emblems and icons they are proud of, and what better emblem than poetry,
specifically contemporary poetry that speaks of who we are NOW. Once in a while
an artist will capture the imagination of an entire generation, if not the
world, and speak for all of us. Our contemporary Contemporary Poetry
speaks to the loss we have all endured. But it also speaks to the resilience we
have shown in the face of change.
How well does this form stand up to the standards of
translation? I mean, how will non-Iranians be able to connect with the form, and
do you think they will get "it"?
Translators are always walking a fine line, preserving the
innovation of the original text while finding a new free-standing work in the
target language (the language translated into). The final product we create lies
somewhere on that continuum, between two points of negotiation. I translate
contemporary Iranian contemporary poetry, mostly free verse poems at this point.
Luckily, it lends itself beautifully to translation, if the right tone is
struck. There is great freedom and creativity in this process. I think readers
of English must be “getting it” just fine because the translations have so far
won 4 major US translation awards and have been published in numerous American
literary magazines, among them Poetry International, Two Lines, Rattapallax,
and Circumference. The translations also get very positive
feedback at readings I do at places like the New York Public Library, National
Arts Club, PEN World Festival of International Literature, and Asia Society. My
upcoming book, The Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Poetry Around the
World, will be published by a US publisher in 2007. So it is playing quite
well to the non-Iranian audience, as I had expected.
What is the plan for this project and where do you intend to
take this effort? Where are you in the project, and what do you need from us
?
The plan is to create in International
Institute of Iranian Letters, that functions more or less like the Goethe
Institute, with even more focus on translation. Being that Iranian literature
has always been subjected to some form of censorship, whether during the Pahlavi
era, or since the 1979 Revolution, I feel that if we do not make a concerted
effort to provide the conditions that make it possible for Iranian writers to
share their work not only with their countrymen, but with thinkers of other
cultures, in translation, then our literature will greatly suffer in the long
run. If you think about it, the health of civilization has depended on the
ability to share knowledge and benefit from each other’s treasures. So much of
Western scientific knowledge is based on the translations of scientific texts
from eastern lands. If Ezra Pound had not translated Chinese poetry, then 20th
century American poetry would have been much less a force than it has become.
The same is true of the impact that our classical poetry, namely the Ghazal
form, has had on Western poetry.
Iran has had a long history of supporting the arts through state
institutions that no longer exist and Iranian literature has been subject to
censorship for many years. New systems of support, sponsorship and indeed
individual wealthy benefactor stewardship is critically necessary to support
this work. Without them, Iranian literature cannot thrive or flourish to its
capacity. This private investment in the advancement of our culture will make a
difference in everyone's future. We need partners in creating the infrastructure
of this Institute.
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| "Midnight Approaches" Benefit Screening on Sept 24 in San
Francisco. (Click for Flyer)
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Whereas the German government funds the Goethe Institute, since the current
Iranian government has other priorities, it then remains up to our community and
I would especially invite those many prominent successful figures who have so
much to provide in the form of financial support, to help create this model of
cultural advance. If we do not take this on now, then we might be implicating
ourselves in the multiple layers of censorship our literature goes through.
If you could wish for anything on this project, what would that be? What
would the ideal Sher-e-No (Contemporary Poetry) day look like?
To have an endowment that allows the full realization of this Institute and
its dream. I would love to see those who are in the position to benefit
from tax-deductible donations and who make sizeable donations to established
institutions, to make this investment, to give to a new organization that will
engage the world in the best Iranian literature has to offer. We have the
skills, the mission, and a well charted course to a new world. All we need now
is the proverbial Queen's support!
More information:
1. To learn more about the Translation
Project and their multi-media projects, visit: www.thetranslationproject.com
2. Benefit Screening of "Midnight Approaches" the newly-released DVD of
shorts based on Iranian poetry-San Francisco SEPTEMBER 24, at the Shelton
Theater from 6-9pm. For tickets Click Here.
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Bruce Behrouz Bahmani lives and writes in the San
Francisco Bay Area. Born in the U.S. in 1961, he moved with his parents to
Iran where he lived until he was 18 . He left Iran in 1979 after the
revolution. Half-Ghashghai, half-German, he attended Parthian and
Iranzamin schools. Comment for the writer Behrouz
Bahmani |
