TEHRAN – Russian scholar Alexander Androshkin plans to translate Iranian writer Mohammad-Kazem Mazinani’s acclaimed novel “The Ah with a Sheen” into Russian.
He is scheduled to begin the translation of the book next month, Sureh-Mehr, the Iranian publisher of the novel, announced on Sunday.
Androshkin is expected to complete the translation of the book by August.
The book will be published by the Islamic Culture Research Foundation in Moscow and is also scheduled to be displayed at the 28th Moscow International Book Fair in September.
The novel is about the activities of a left-wing revolutionary with a communist background during the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last monarch of Iran.
“The Ah with a Sheen” is actually a sequel to Mazinani’s earlier novel entitled “The Shah without a Sheen” that was published by Sureh-Mehr in 2011.
Both titles “The Shah without a Sheen”, and “The Ah with a Sheen” are subtle plays on words.
“Sheen” is a letter of the Persian alphabet that represents the sound of the combination of letters “sh” in English. If the combined letters “sh” are dropped from the word “shah” only the letters “ah” remain, and “ah” means sorrow in Persian. “Ah” with a “sheen” forms the Persian word “shah”.
In September 2014, “The Ah with a Sheen” shared the Jalal Al-e Ahmad Literary Award, Iran’s most lucrative literary prize, with Abutorab Khosravi’s “Angels of Punishment”.
Earlier in July 2014, Iran’s Pen Association also honored Mazinani with a Golden Pen Award for the novel.
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