Jaleh Esfahani; Iranian poet in exile
Hyfler/Rosner
December 18, 2007
Jaleh Esfahani
Iranian poet and activistwhose rich and prolific output
across sixty years of exile told of veils, walls and the
unheard voices of women
Jaleh Esfahani spent most of her life in exile from her
native Iran, but she became one of the most prolific and
active voices in Iranian literature. For six decades, first
in the Soviet Union and most recently in Britain, she won
respect for her heartfelt but controlled verses on exile,
happiness and hope.
Jaleh Esfahani was born in Esfahan, Iran, in 1921. From
early childhood, she had a natural talent for poetry. She
published her first book of poetry at 23. In 1946, when the
first congress of Iranian poets and writers was convened in
Tehran, Esfahani was the only woman, and she recited a piece
in front of an audience of 2,000.
Her literary activities in Iran were cut short after she
married a young army officer, Shams-al-din Badie, who was an
opponent of the Pahlavi regime and suffered persecution for
his political views. The couple fled to the Soviet Union in
1947. Initially they settled in Baku, where Esfahani learnt
Azeri and graduated from Azerbaijan State University with a
BA. Later, in Moscow, she learnt Russian and got her PhD in
Persian literature from Lamanosov University. For many years
she worked at the Maxim Gorky International Academy of
Literature. In 1981, amid the turmoil of revolution, she
returned to Iran, but two years later she came to London,
where she remained until her death.
During her stay in Russia, Esfahani was known as the sole
female face of Persian literature. She often travelled to
Tajikistan and Afghanistan and other Middle Asian countries
to attend congresses and conferences and presented numerous
talks and papers to promote, encourage and highlight the
importance of literary co-operation among the Farsi-speaking
peoples.
Poetry was Esfahani's first love. She published more than 20
volumes of poetry, most of which had been translated into
Russian and various European and other Asian languages. She
also translated the works of many Azari poets of the early
20th century into Farsi. Her autobiography The Shadow of
Years was published in 2000.
In 2006 the first English translation of a selection of
Esfahani's poetry was carried out by her friend, Rouhi
Sahfii, and published by Shiraz Press under the title
Migrating Birds.
Esfahani was an artist unconstrained by boundaries or
country, whose worked painted the rich variety of life. "I
am/ Therefore, I think./ My thoughts are sometimes simple,/
sometimes deep./ I am the commander of / my own will./ I
strive, I write and read/ the inscriptions of/ empowerment/
letter by letter, line by line."
Esfahani spoke out against the tyrants and oppressors who
have ruled her country for so long, but for her, humanism
was not confined to a particular country. She dedicated a
substantial part of her work to liberty and free thinking.
Veils, walls and the unheard voices of confined women all
have a strong presence in her work, which speaks also of
movement, turmoil and the corresponding drive to sail away
from it. Esfahani was often called the poet of hope, and
that emotion is in abundance in her work. Her verses are
suffused by love and the joy of life is the centre stage.
"To be joyous is an art,/ should other hearts beat with the/
drum of happiness/ inspired by us/ life would be a unique
scene of art."
Jaleh Esfahani is survived by her two sons.
Jaleh Esfahani, Iranian poet, was born in 1921. She died on
November 29, 2007, aged 86.
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