The Tragic Tale of the Distortion of Hedayat's Works as Told by His Nephew, Arash Irani - 2003-11-19

If you have noticed the reprinted works of Sadegh Hedayat in Iran in recent years, you have likely observed the distortions that have occurred in some of the stories of this renowned Iranian writer. Jahangir Hedayat, Sadegh Hedayat's nephew, recently expressed his concerns during an interview with the Iranian Cultural Heritage News Agency (Mirath News) regarding the distortions and numerous printing errors in the works of this author, stating: 'As the survivors of Hedayat, we are very dissatisfied with the state of the printing of his works; it seems that despite the numerous printing errors, the younger generation will no longer be able to become acquainted with the real Sadegh Hedayat.' Sadegh Hedayat, born on February 17, 1903, in Tehran, created unparalleled literary works during his 48 tumultuous years of life, including 'The Benefits of Vegetarianism' (1926), 'Alive Buried' (1929), 'Parvin, Daughter of Sasan' (1930), the collection 'Three Drops of Blood' (1932), 'The Shadow of Roshan' (1933), 'Wagh Wagh Sahab' (1934), 'The Blind Owl' (1936), the collection 'The Stray Dog' (1942), 'Haji Agha' (1945), and others. Jahangir Hedayat further emphasized that recently, Sadegh Hedayat's preface to the book 'The Songs of Khayyam' was removed by a publisher, and the efforts of Hedayat's survivors to prevent the distribution of this book have not yet yielded results, noting: 'For some time now, this wave has begun, and several of Hedayat's books are being released with numerous omissions and changes, including the book 'The Songs of Khayyam.' He also explained the removal of this preface: 'The book 'The Songs of Khayyam' has three general prefaces: Khayyam the Poet and Khayyam the Philosopher, which are of primary importance due to the existence of these research prefaces; otherwise, Khayyam's quatrains have been published repeatedly. In fact, the publisher of this book, without understanding the importance of these prefaces, not only removed them but also wrote a preface of his own!' He also mentioned the complaints submitted to the relevant authorities, recalling: 'Following a complaint submitted to the Cultural Deputy of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, I received two different letters within twenty days; the first letter indicated the validity of the complaint and the necessity of a warning to the publisher, while the second letter, with a 180-degree turnaround, deemed the publisher justified.' Sadegh Hedayat's nephew continued: 'In the book 'Alive Buried,' which was published in 84 pages, more than 44 instances of distortion and omission have been observed, and in other pages, several sentences have been omitted. Additionally, the story 'Alive Buried' was introduced in this new edition as belonging to the year 1359 (1980), a year in which the author was not alive. This story was written in 1930, and after our objection, it was said that these errors would be corrected in future editions.' Jahangir Hedayat concluded: 'All these interactions occur at a time when the novel 'The Blind Owl,' which has been translated into most living languages, is currently not allowed to be printed in Iran. If a publisher were to find the audacity to remove and distort this work, would 'The Blind Owl' also be published? In such circumstances, what guarantee is there that the sanctity of the works of authors, who can be published by any publisher after 30 years of their death according to copyright laws, will be preserved?'