Karim Emami
Encyclopedia
Karim Emami
(26 May 1930, Calcutta, India
– 9 July 2005, Tehran
, Iran
) was a highly regarded Iranian translator
, editor
, lexicographer
, and literary critic
.
merchant. He learned his first English words from his father and returned to Shiraz
in Iran when he was two years old.
Emami studied English literature at University of Tehran
and at the University of Minnesota
. He became a journalist
in the early 1950s for the English language Tehran daily Keyhan International. During the 1960s, he translated contemporary Persian poetry into English. In 1967, he was named editor in chief at Franklin Books, where he was instrumental in the publication of quality books and training younger writers and editors. He also founded Soroush Press, the publishing arm of National Iranian Radio and Television, and established the Zamineh bookstore in Tehran, a meeting place for writers, intellectuals, and book lovers.
In the final decade of his life he was an active contributor to Motarjem
, an Iranian quarterly dedicated to the translation and translators. He was responsible for Kargahe Tarjome (translation workshops) section of the magazine.He died of leukemia
in Tehran
.
Payāmi dar rāh: Naẓari be šeʿr va naqqāši-e Sepehri, (A message on the way: A collection of three essays by Dāriuš Āšuri, Ḥosayn Maʿṣoumi Hamedani and Karim Emami), ed. Karim Emami, Tehran, 1980.
ʿAkkāsi-e siāh o sefid (Black-and-white photography), Karim Emami et al., Tehran, 1981.
Panj negāh be ḵāk (Five ways of looking at the earth), a collection of 63 pictures by five Iranian photographers: Mehdi Ḵᵛānsāri, Bahman Jalāli, Yaḥyā Dehqānpur, Mahšid Farahmand, and Karim Emami), ed., Karim Emami, Tehran, 1982.
Čeguna film-e ʿarusaki besāzim (How to make animated movies), Karim Emami et al., Tehran, 2000.
2. Translations into Persian:
Arthur Charles Clarke, Man and Space (1968), as Ensān o fażā, Tehran, 1970.
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, as Mājarāhā-ye Sherlock Holmes (1993–1998), 4 vols.
Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925), as Gatsbi-e bozorg (Ṭalā va ḵākestar), Tehran, 1965.
Alex La Guma, Apartheid, ed., Tehran, 1981.
David Lodge, Graham Greene (1966), Tehran, 1974.
John Osborne, Look Back in Anger (1956), as Bā ḵašm be yād ār, Tehran, 1963.
Herbert Read, A Concise History of Modern Painting (1956–74), as Tāriḵča-ye naqqāši-e novin, forthcoming.
Sir Denis Wright, The Persians Amongst the English (1985), as Irāniān dar miān-e Engelisihā, Tehran, 1987.
3. Translations into English:
Jalal Al-e Ahmad, “Crisis in Education: The School Principal,” Michael Hillmann, ed. Iranian Society: An Anthology of Writings by Jalal Al-e Ahmad, Kentucky, 1988, pp. 80–88.
Forugh Farrokhzad, “Another Birth,” Michael Hillmann, ed. A Lonely Woman: Forugh Farrokhzad and Her Poetry, Washington D. C., 1987, pp. 111–13.
Omar Khayyam (72 quatrains), TheWine of Nishapur: A Photographer’s Promenade in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Paris, 1988.
Sohrab Sepehri, “Water’s Footsteps,” Iranian Studies, 15/1-4, 1982, pp. 97–116. Idem, The Lover is Always Alone, Tehran, 2003.
Emami compiled several exhibition catalogues, including Art in Iran (Iran-America Society, Tehran, 1965); A Collection of Saqqā-ḵāna Paintings (Iran-America Society, Tehran, 1967); and Modern Iranian Art: A Retrospective Exhibition (Iran-America Society, Tehran, 1976). He published numerous articles on literature, cinema, art and archeology in Keyhan International, including: “Crucial Test for Iranian Cinema,” (August 12, 1964, p. 6), “Contemporary Iranian Literature in the Mirror,” (May 21, 1965, p. 5), “An Eyeful of Art in Goethe’s Garden,” (June 6, 1968, p. 6), and “Contemporary Iranian Literature in the Mirror,” (May 21, 1965, p. 5).
Sources. Iraj Afšār, “Tāzahā va pārahā-ye Irānšenāsi,” Bukhara, 53, Summer 2006, pp. 130–67. Sirus ʿAlinežād, “Meṯl-e Aḵavān, meṯl-e Foruḡ, meṯl-e Emāmi,’ available online (accessed 20 July 2009).
Dāriuš Āšuri, “Šarāb-e Neišābur,” Irannameh, 8/1,winter 1989.
ʿAbd-al-Ḥosayn Āzarang, “Pišgoftār,” in Karim Emami, Dar gir o dār ketāb o našr, Tehran, 2006.
“Idem, Jāygāh-e Karim Emāmi dar našr o virāyeš,”Bukhara, no. 53, Summer 2006, pp. 493-7.
Shaul Bakkash, “Yād-e doust,” Bukhara 42, 2005a, pp. 406–11.
Idem, “Karim Emami: 1930-2005,” 2005b, available online (accessed 20 July 2009).
Karim Emami, Az past o boland-e tarjoma (The ins and outs of translation), vol. I, Tehran, 1993; vol. II. ed.ʿAbd-al-Ḥosayn Āzarang and Možda Daqiqi, Tehran, 2006.
Idem, “Az Kayhan, Farnklin, va Soruš,” Tāriḵ-e šafāhi-e našr-e Iran (Oral History: Publishing Industry in Iran), ed. ʿAbd-al-Ḥosayn Āzarang, and ʿAli Dehbāši, Tehran, 2004.
Idem, Dar gir o dār-e ketāb o našr, Tehran, 2006.
Nazila Fathi, “ Karim Emami,” The New York Times, July 13, 2005.
Ebrāhim Golestān, “Pāyān-e in nemād-e niki-e bihamtā,” Bukhara 42, Summer 2005.
ʿAli Ḵazāʾifar, “Az šomār-e dow čašm yek tan kam,” Bukhara 42, Summer 2005, pp. 399–405.
Ḥosayn Maʿṣumi Hamadāni, “Bāḡbān-e ketāb,” Bukhara 42, Summer 2005, pp. 368–73.
ʿAli Mirzāʾi, “Karim Emāmi: ḵedmatgozār-e ketāb o ṣanʿat-e našr dargoḏašt,” Negāh nou, 2005, pp. 24–27.
Parviz Rahimḵāni, “Ostād Karim Emāmi-e šatranj-bāz,” Bukhara 42, Summer 2005, pp. 428–29.
Kāyvān Sepehr, “Marg-e čonin mard,” Ketāb-e hafta, 253, 2005, p. 3.
Mehdi Yazdāni-Ḵorram, “Gastby-e bozorg dargoḏšt,” Bukhara 42, Summer 2005, pp. 420–22.
(26 May 1930, Calcutta, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
– 9 July 2005, Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
) was a highly regarded Iranian translator
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
, editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
, lexicographer
Lexicography
Lexicography is divided into two related disciplines:*Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries....
, and literary critic
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
.
Life
Emami was born in 1930 in Calcutta, a frequent destination of his father, a teaTea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
merchant. He learned his first English words from his father and returned to Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz may refer to:* Shiraz, Iran, a city in Iran* Shiraz County, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Vosketap, Armenia, formerly called ShirazPeople:* Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet* Ara Shiraz, Armenian sculptor...
in Iran when he was two years old.
Emami studied English literature at University of Tehran
University of Tehran
The University of Tehran , also known as Tehran University and UT, is Iran's oldest university. Located in Tehran, the university is among the most prestigious in the country, and is consistently selected as the first choice of many applicants in the annual nationwide entrance exam for top Iranian...
and at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
. He became a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
in the early 1950s for the English language Tehran daily Keyhan International. During the 1960s, he translated contemporary Persian poetry into English. In 1967, he was named editor in chief at Franklin Books, where he was instrumental in the publication of quality books and training younger writers and editors. He also founded Soroush Press, the publishing arm of National Iranian Radio and Television, and established the Zamineh bookstore in Tehran, a meeting place for writers, intellectuals, and book lovers.
In the final decade of his life he was an active contributor to Motarjem
Motarjem
Motarjem is a quarterly magazine published in Mashhad in Iran, dedicated to translation. It is published privately by Ali Khazaee Far. Its contributors include Karim Emami, Abdollah Kowsari, Goli Emami, and others.- External links :*...
, an Iranian quarterly dedicated to the translation and translators. He was responsible for Kargahe Tarjome (translation workshops) section of the magazine.He died of leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
.
Selected works
1. Books in Persian:Payāmi dar rāh: Naẓari be šeʿr va naqqāši-e Sepehri, (A message on the way: A collection of three essays by Dāriuš Āšuri, Ḥosayn Maʿṣoumi Hamedani and Karim Emami), ed. Karim Emami, Tehran, 1980.
ʿAkkāsi-e siāh o sefid (Black-and-white photography), Karim Emami et al., Tehran, 1981.
Panj negāh be ḵāk (Five ways of looking at the earth), a collection of 63 pictures by five Iranian photographers: Mehdi Ḵᵛānsāri, Bahman Jalāli, Yaḥyā Dehqānpur, Mahšid Farahmand, and Karim Emami), ed., Karim Emami, Tehran, 1982.
Čeguna film-e ʿarusaki besāzim (How to make animated movies), Karim Emami et al., Tehran, 2000.
2. Translations into Persian:
Arthur Charles Clarke, Man and Space (1968), as Ensān o fażā, Tehran, 1970.
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, as Mājarāhā-ye Sherlock Holmes (1993–1998), 4 vols.
Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925), as Gatsbi-e bozorg (Ṭalā va ḵākestar), Tehran, 1965.
Alex La Guma, Apartheid, ed., Tehran, 1981.
David Lodge, Graham Greene (1966), Tehran, 1974.
John Osborne, Look Back in Anger (1956), as Bā ḵašm be yād ār, Tehran, 1963.
Herbert Read, A Concise History of Modern Painting (1956–74), as Tāriḵča-ye naqqāši-e novin, forthcoming.
Sir Denis Wright, The Persians Amongst the English (1985), as Irāniān dar miān-e Engelisihā, Tehran, 1987.
3. Translations into English:
Jalal Al-e Ahmad, “Crisis in Education: The School Principal,” Michael Hillmann, ed. Iranian Society: An Anthology of Writings by Jalal Al-e Ahmad, Kentucky, 1988, pp. 80–88.
Forugh Farrokhzad, “Another Birth,” Michael Hillmann, ed. A Lonely Woman: Forugh Farrokhzad and Her Poetry, Washington D. C., 1987, pp. 111–13.
Omar Khayyam (72 quatrains), TheWine of Nishapur: A Photographer’s Promenade in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Paris, 1988.
Sohrab Sepehri, “Water’s Footsteps,” Iranian Studies, 15/1-4, 1982, pp. 97–116. Idem, The Lover is Always Alone, Tehran, 2003.
Emami compiled several exhibition catalogues, including Art in Iran (Iran-America Society, Tehran, 1965); A Collection of Saqqā-ḵāna Paintings (Iran-America Society, Tehran, 1967); and Modern Iranian Art: A Retrospective Exhibition (Iran-America Society, Tehran, 1976). He published numerous articles on literature, cinema, art and archeology in Keyhan International, including: “Crucial Test for Iranian Cinema,” (August 12, 1964, p. 6), “Contemporary Iranian Literature in the Mirror,” (May 21, 1965, p. 5), “An Eyeful of Art in Goethe’s Garden,” (June 6, 1968, p. 6), and “Contemporary Iranian Literature in the Mirror,” (May 21, 1965, p. 5).
Sources. Iraj Afšār, “Tāzahā va pārahā-ye Irānšenāsi,” Bukhara, 53, Summer 2006, pp. 130–67. Sirus ʿAlinežād, “Meṯl-e Aḵavān, meṯl-e Foruḡ, meṯl-e Emāmi,’ available online (accessed 20 July 2009).
Dāriuš Āšuri, “Šarāb-e Neišābur,” Irannameh, 8/1,winter 1989.
ʿAbd-al-Ḥosayn Āzarang, “Pišgoftār,” in Karim Emami, Dar gir o dār ketāb o našr, Tehran, 2006.
“Idem, Jāygāh-e Karim Emāmi dar našr o virāyeš,”Bukhara, no. 53, Summer 2006, pp. 493-7.
Shaul Bakkash, “Yād-e doust,” Bukhara 42, 2005a, pp. 406–11.
Idem, “Karim Emami: 1930-2005,” 2005b, available online (accessed 20 July 2009).
Karim Emami, Az past o boland-e tarjoma (The ins and outs of translation), vol. I, Tehran, 1993; vol. II. ed.ʿAbd-al-Ḥosayn Āzarang and Možda Daqiqi, Tehran, 2006.
Idem, “Az Kayhan, Farnklin, va Soruš,” Tāriḵ-e šafāhi-e našr-e Iran (Oral History: Publishing Industry in Iran), ed. ʿAbd-al-Ḥosayn Āzarang, and ʿAli Dehbāši, Tehran, 2004.
Idem, Dar gir o dār-e ketāb o našr, Tehran, 2006.
Nazila Fathi, “ Karim Emami,” The New York Times, July 13, 2005.
Ebrāhim Golestān, “Pāyān-e in nemād-e niki-e bihamtā,” Bukhara 42, Summer 2005.
ʿAli Ḵazāʾifar, “Az šomār-e dow čašm yek tan kam,” Bukhara 42, Summer 2005, pp. 399–405.
Ḥosayn Maʿṣumi Hamadāni, “Bāḡbān-e ketāb,” Bukhara 42, Summer 2005, pp. 368–73.
ʿAli Mirzāʾi, “Karim Emāmi: ḵedmatgozār-e ketāb o ṣanʿat-e našr dargoḏašt,” Negāh nou, 2005, pp. 24–27.
Parviz Rahimḵāni, “Ostād Karim Emāmi-e šatranj-bāz,” Bukhara 42, Summer 2005, pp. 428–29.
Kāyvān Sepehr, “Marg-e čonin mard,” Ketāb-e hafta, 253, 2005, p. 3.
Mehdi Yazdāni-Ḵorram, “Gastby-e bozorg dargoḏšt,” Bukhara 42, Summer 2005, pp. 420–22.
External links
- Encyclopaedia Iranica A very useful biography contributed by Abdol Hosayn Azarang.