Saeed Kamali Dehghan in Tehran and Robert Tait

The Guardian, Friday July 18, 2008

For nearly 30 years, it has loomed like a ghost over the carcass of US-Iranian relations - a reminder of how Islamic revolutionaries rendered Washington impotent by holding 52 of its diplomats hostage.

To the US, its former embassy in Tehran conjures humiliating images of classified documents being desperately shredded and captured staff being paraded blindfold before angry jeering crowds after a takeover organised by pro-Khomeini militants.

For Iran’s Islamic government, it is the “den of spies” from where the US supposedly tried to sabotage the 1979 revolution that toppled Washington’s staunch ally, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran’s last shah.

But yesterday the former embassy - now a museum run by revolutionary guards - was an unlikely focal point of hope after news that the Bush administration plans to establish the first US diplomatic presence in Iran since the 1979-81 siege of the embassy, which lasted 444 days.

Most Iranians passing the property in Talaghani Street were unaware of the Guardian’s disclosure of the plans to open a US-staffed diplomatic interest section, a halfway step to full ties.

Conditioned by decades of Iranian government hostility and sabre-rattling over the country’s nuclear programme, many shied away from commenting on an issue still seen as sensitive in a society where anti-Americanism is paramount. But others were prepared to cautiously welcome back the nation officially reviled since the revolution as “the Great Satan”.

“This would be helpful to our people,” Muhammad Hosseinzadegan, an 18-year-old student, said. “The sanctions will go away and the mutual difficulties between the two countries might decrease. I really hope that this quarrel with America ends one day.”

Cyrus Mohebbat, the owner of a car accessories shop, said: “I’d be really happy if America opens this office. I think there are only a small number of people in Iran who are opposed to beginning new mutual relationships. Most Iranians will be happy with this.”

Yet such euphoria was tempered by an awareness that renewed relations face a wall of mistrust as the US seeks to pressure Tehran into abandoning a uranium enrichment programme that might be used as the initial step towards building a nuclear bomb.

“I think this will ease the negotiation process, but the question is how America is going to open such an office while people close to the government still chant ‘Down with the USA’,” said one man, who declined to be named. “Iran’s nuclear issue is now in a complicated and critical phase. Some think finding a way out is impossible. Rumours of war are widespread and people are asking whether the US will attack or not. It is so oppressive.”

Marjan Khajavi, 22, echoed the fear often voiced by the government and its supporters: that renewed ties would revive the servile policy they believe the shah followed towards the US. “I hope one day that these two countries can treat each other as friends and opening a diplomatic interest office would help this. But I’m absolutely against letting America control this country, as they did before the Islamic revolution,” she said.

Adel Karimi, 22, a civil engineering student, said the US was no worse than Britain - seen by many Iranians as a traditional enemy. “I think Britain exploits countries as much as the US, so why do we have a British embassy in Tehran and not an American one?”

But Muhammad Ali Benghani, 32, a state employee, voiced the fears that have long steered Iran away from ties with America. “I’m against letting America open such an office,” he said. “The US has never been our friend. It always thinks of its own interests, so I don’t think they would help Iranians.”

Saeed Kamali Dehghan, Powell’s Books, Tuesday May 27^th, 2008 

A Persian translation of John Barth’s The Floating Opera won the Iranian literary prize Roozi Rozegari, announced on May 17^th in a ceremony held in Tehran. Roozi Rozegari will award ‘the best foreign work translation’ annually, a category added to an Iranian literary prize for the first time this year. The Floating Opera, which was published last year in Iran by Qoqnoos publications, was among Umberto Eco’s Baudolino and Saul Bellow’s Seize the Day in the prize short list.

John Barth wrote in his statement, read by me at the prize ceremony in Tehran. “It is always a pleasure and an honor to have one’s work translated into other languages and published in other countries.  And for me it is a particular pleasure to have my earliest novel — first published more than half a century ago — newly translated into a language akin to that of one of my longtime literary navigation-stars: the Scheherazade of Kitab Alf Laylah Wah Laylah, the Book of 1001 Nights”.

At the same time, Barth denounced no-copyright situation in Iran. “However, I must deplore the publication of any copyrighted material without its author’s consent.  I urge the government of Iran to join the international community in signing the World Intellectual Property Organization Treaty, and Iranian publishers to secure proper permission before publishing copyrighted material”, added him consequently.

Iran does not obey copyright law and many classics and internationally bestselling titles are translated and published in the country without its author’s permission. Subsequently, in case of interviewing the author or announcing any prize, the news would be a shock to the work’s writer and its publisher. But, regarding problems the Iranian literary society has, many of them not only would not complain but also would give the copyright honorary to the Iranian publisher.

Iranian literary society faces immense challenges in publishing books. For translators or publishers there is almost no money in book industry, so what remains would be just a matter of interest. At the same time, government is cracking down on writers by cens.orship or not giving them permission for the publication. Iran’s Ministry of culture and Islamic guidance vets all books to insure they conform to Islamic principles. It takes the ministry some months or even more than a year before granting permission to a novel or a short story collection, and there is always the possibility that they will not give it at all, as the control procedure and the censorship is arbitrary.

“International authors do not trust Iranian publishing companies, and this is one of the consequences of the violation of copyright laws in Iran”, stated Amir Hosseinzadegan, the manager of Qoqnoos Publications who was interviewed by Mehrnews Agency regarding John Barth’s statement.

“As an Iranian publisher, I call for Iran’s government to join WIPO Copyright Treaty. Foreign publishers expect us to obtain permission for publishing their books,” he said to the agency, hoping that Barth’s statement would be a catalyst for a new movement to uphold copyright.

He also added that John Barth is not the first writer who objected the unauthorized publication of his book in Iran. “Many foreign publishers do not sign agreements with Iranian publishing companies and many of them who sign agreements are not satisfied with their royalties since book prices are much lower in Iran compared to Western countries”, explained Hosseinzadegan, who has already made agreements with some foreign publishers such as Routledge or Gallimard. For example, 1650 copies of The Floating Opera were printed in the first run, and each priced at about five dollars.

Published in 1957, The Floating Opera, Barth’s first novel, is the story of a lawyer Todd Andrews, who changed his mind on 21 June 1937 and decided not to commit suicide. The book, considered one of the pioneers in American postmodern literature, deals with ‘50’s nihilism and s.e.x revolution in the US. Barth himself remarked once that the book reflects the influence of French existentialist thought in post-World War II America.

John Barth won Iranian literary prize Roozi Rozegari for his first book translated into Persian, which was published last year in the country. The Floating Opera won the prize ‘best foreign novel translated into Persian’ of the year 2008. As for the occasion, John Barth sent a statement to the prize, which was read by Saeed Kamali Dehghan at the final announcement in Tehran on May 17, 2008:

“It is always a pleasure and an honor to have one’s work translated into other languages and published in other countries.  And for me it is a particular pleasure to have my earliest novel — first published more than half a century ago — newly translated into a language akin to that of one of my longtime literary navigation-stars: the Scheherazade of Kitab Alf Laylah Wah Laylah, the Book of 1001 Nights.

At the same time, however, I must deplore the publication of any copyrighted material without its author’s consent.  I urge the government of Iran to join the international community in signing the World Intellectual Property Organization Treaty, and Iranian publishers to secure proper permission before publishing copyrighted material. Thank you.”

John Barth

May 17 2008