by i The Blind Owl by Sadeq Hedayat Translated By Iraj Bashiri © 1974, 1984, 2013 _______________________________________ Bashiri Working Papers on Central Asia and Iran 1st edition 1974 2nd revised edition 1984 3rd revised edition 2013 ii Copyright © 1974, 1984, 2013 by Iraj Bashiri. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information retrieval system without the written permission of Iraj Bashiri. Table of Contents Introduction  ........................................................................................................................  v   Sadeq Hedayat's Life  ........................................................................................................  8   The Blind Owl  ...................................................................................................................  14   The Blind Owl: A Personal Note  ..................................................................................  67   The Message of The Blind Owl:    An Analysis  ............................................................  76   Select Bibliography  ..........................................................................................................  95   iv | THE BLIND OWL Introduction T he following is my third revised version of the translation into English of the novella, The Blind Owl. The first version (1974) was a literal translation. It accompanied a structural study of the novella entitled Hedayat's Ivory Tower: Structural Analysis of The Blind Owl. A working translation, it served as the basis for my work that continued on the novella in subsequent years. What prompted that translation, in spite of the existing D. P. Costello translation, was that Costello had not adhered to the exact text of Hedayat. As a result, I thought certain crucial clues for understanding Hedayat's intent in writing the novella were missing. For instance, Costello had used the word "cobra" as a translation of Hedayat's "mar-i nag" (Nag-serpent). On the surface, "cobra" is an apt translation, especially for those who read the novella for entertainment. But for those who intend to understand the meaning of the work through an analysis of its various aspects, it is an inadequate translation. As we know now, the Nag-serpent plays a pivotal role in the whole story, by inference in Part One and, physically, in various forms in Part Two. The Nag-serpent gives the novella its backdrop and conveys the overall message of Hedayat, a message of liberation modeled on the life of Gautama Buddha. In fact, it is the element in the story that inspires awe and mystery, and imparts depth. These, and other India-related concerns, prompted me to provide a literal translation with my working analysis. The incentive for publishing the 1974 literal translation, therefore, was to facilitate communication about the analysis rather than to present a new translation. In an effort to understand the works of Sadeq Hedayat better; in fact, to gain an overall view of his world, I teach a course on Persian Fiction and in it, alongside the works of other authors, I use the works of Hedayat. Analysis of Hedayat's short stories and discussion of those stories over decades, especially discussion of The Blind Owl in the context of the Bardo Thodol, have enabled me to enhance both my analysis and my translation of The Blind Owl. A revised analysis appeared in The Fiction of Sadeq Hedayat (1984) accompanied by a revised translation in The Blind Owl and Other Hedayat Stories (1984). For all intents and purposes, I considered the revised translation to be the final version. In 2011, I received a request for a literal translation of the novella, a sentence-by- sentence literal translation to be used in a series of instructional materials covering a wide spectrum of languages, including Persian. The format was a presentation in which a sentence from the novella on the left side had the literal translation of it in English on the right side. I completed that translation within a year and sent to those who had requested it. While preparing this literal translation, I noticed that I had left out some words and felt that I could add those to the translation. I also saw a number of inadequacies in the 1984 translation that I could improve upon. This third revised edition, therefore, is the result of incorporating elements from the new literal translation into the 1984 translation. Fortunately, the "Working Papers" web format allows such changes. I feel that we are now closer to a complete translation of The Blind Owl. Iraj Bashiri Minneapolis 2013 vi | THE BLIND OWL Sadeq Hedayat's Life by Iraj Bashiri Copyright 1984, 1999, 2013 ____________________________________ Bashiri Working Papers on Central Asia and Iran 1st edition 1984 2nd revised edition 1999 3rd revised edition 2013 L ike that of most writers, Sadeq Hedayat's biography is not free from controversy. Indeed, increasingly numerous interpretations of his thoughts, words, and deeds have made a retrospection of his life especially complicated. To avoid the difficulties of monolithically describing an enigmatic figure like Hedayat, we shall essay his life as factually as we can. This account will include his travels, professional activities, and authorship. In subsequent studies, we shall describe his learning and whether he realized the aspirations of his life, given Iranian circumstances in the nineteen thirties and forties. Hedayat was born in Tehran on February 17, 1903, to a northern Iranian aristocratic family.1 He was named Sadeq after his paternal grandfather (Nayyer al- Mulk). According to his brother, Mahmud, Sadeq was the center of the family's attention: Throughout his childhood, all the members of the family, the children as well as the adults, loved my brother Sadeq. His childish antics and his sweet and pleasant speech amused us all. Around the age of five or six, well before the expected time, he became calm and collected. He no longer displayed any desire for childish pranks. Rather he became an introvert avoiding the company of other children.2 At the age of six, Hedayat was sent to the 'Elmiyeh School where he studied until the end of his elementary school years. Then, about 1915, He joined the Dar al- Fonun where he began to receive a Western education under the supervision of European teachers. Soon, however, he lost the desire to pursue a rigorous course of Study. Mathematics and its allied subjects bored him. He opted for learning French instead. His family then registered him at the Saint Louis Academy. In his late teens, Hedayat broke with his family; although he occupied a room in his ancestral home3 for most of the rest of his life in Iran, he did not participate in his 1 For background information on Hedayat's formative years and his life and 2 Dastgheyb, p. 13. 3 Cf. Siavosh Danesh, Sadeq's Omnibus: A Collection of Short Stories (Tehran: Mehr-i Danesh Publications, 1971), p. 11. 1 | SADEQ HEDAYAT'S LIFE