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Home > Translation > The World Bookshelf > Books > The Colonel

The Colonel

Read reviews from UK reading groups here

A pitch black, rainy night in a small Iranian town. Inside his house the Colonel is immersed in thought. Memories are storming in. Memories of his wife. Memories of the great patriots of the past, all of them assassinated or executed. Memories of his children, who had joined the different factions of the 1979 revolution. There is a knock on the door. Two young policemen have come to summon the Colonel to collect the tortured body of his youngest daughter and bury her before sunrise. The Islamic Revolution, like every other revolution in history, is devouring its own children. And whose fault is that? This shocking diatribe against the failures of the Iranian left over the last fifty years does not leave one taboo unbroken.

‘An affecting and beautiful novel’
The Literary Review

‘It’s about time everyone even remotely interested in Iran read this novel’
Independent

English PEN works in partnership with The Reading Agency to inspire more people to read more books in translation. By offering PEN supported titles through the Reading Groups for Everyone Initiative we have been able to reach readers around the country and get their feedback on the books we promote.

Author

Mahmoud Dowlatabadi

Mahmoud Dowlatabadi

Books

The Colonel

Thirst

Mahmoud Dowlatabadi was born in 1940 in Dowlatabad, northwest Iran and is a writer and actor, known primarily for his realist stories focussing on rural life. His writing draws from his own experiences, such as helping his father with farming, tending flocks, and reading Persian folklore in his youth. He attended high school in Tehran and later joined the Anahita Drama group. In 1975 he was arrested and spent a year in prison.

Dowlatabadi began writing in the 60s and has published many novels, novellas, short story collections and plays. His first story, The Pit of Night, was published in 1962 in the Anahita Literary Magazine. Other major works include his 1968 novel, The Tale of Baba Sobhan which was filmed as Khak (Earth / dust) in 1972 by Masud Kimiai. Between 1977 and 1984 he wrote Kalidar, a novel about a persecuted family and a classic of Persian literature. His novel The Colonel was shortlisted for the Haus der Kulturen Berlin International Literary Award in 2009.

Translator

Tom Patterdale

Tom Patterdale

Books

The Colonel

Tom Patterdale read Persian at university and worked in Iran for a number of years.

Published by

Haus Publishing, 2011
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Read reviews from UK reading groups here

A pitch black, rainy night in a small Iranian town. Inside his house the Colonel is immersed in thought. Memories are storming in. Memories of his wife. Memories of the great patriots of the past, all of them assassinated or executed. Memories of his children, who had joined the different factions of the 1979 revolution. There is a knock on the door. Two young policemen have come to summon the Colonel to collect the tortured body of his youngest daughter and bury her before sunrise. The Islamic Revolution, like every other revolution in history, is devouring its own children. And whose fault is that? This shocking diatribe against the failures of the Iranian left over the last fifty years does not leave one taboo unbroken.

‘An affecting and beautiful novel’
The Literary Review

‘It’s about time everyone even remotely interested in Iran read this novel’
Independent

English PEN works in partnership with The Reading Agency to inspire more people to read more books in translation. By offering PEN supported titles through the Reading Groups for Everyone Initiative we have been able to reach readers around the country and get their feedback on the books we promote.

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