Reza Mirchi has recently converted Václav Havel's play 'Leaving' to Persian. The Prague-based Iranian translator believes that the works of contemporary Czech writers should be translated from original language or else the writer's intention would be missing.

IBNA: Mirchi said: "Havel is known as the few figures that spent their whole lives on a single path and he did his best not to diverge from his writing goals." 

"Havel believed in his work and was not impressed by premade frameworks of playwriting; he paid utmost attention to the latent meanings of the words and sentences. As for his position in today's world of drama one should say that Havel holds a firm and special position in Europe, although this is also influenced by his political roles as twice Czech president. But gradually his works found their audiences among literature and theater fans and his popularity is increasing. Havel is also well-known in Iran and has many readers." 

Mirchi added: "In a meeting with Havel, I informed him of the Iranians' interest in contemporary Czech literature and presented a list of Czech works already converted to Persian. Havel was surpized but immediately asked from what language they are translated. He regretted that these works were translated from a second or mediatory language as he believed that in this way the writer's ideas could not be converted to the readers, especially in the case of play scripts that are made of short and connotative phrases. In that session I promised Havel to translate his last work to Persian under his supervision." 

He went on to explain that 'Leaving' is in fact an account of Havel's official and social life and is characterized by his immediacy and direct comments yet within the cultural framework of complaisance. 

He added: "Havel's writing style is his own. Avoiding literary adventures, Havel writes simple sentences and puts his words in the mouth of the speakers, shifting himself to the position of a listener, and his final opinion or comments appear in very short sentences. The success of translating Havel, if any, relies in familiarity with Václav Havel's social outlook and ideologies. 

Reza Mirchi has lived in Czech for forty years. He has published the first Czech-Persian and Persian-Czech Dictionary, as well as Persian tutorials for the Czech people that are all published in his publishing house named Pardis. He has also translated Jan Kolar's book "Memoirs of Mirza Koochak khan" to Persian. 

Reza mirchi's translation of "Leaving" is published in 86 pages by Jahan-e Ketab.

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