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c-span2. iranian doctor mahmoud dowlatabadi talks about the struggle to publish political books in iran where he lives. the banning of his book by iranian authorities next on is iaban hour and 1 minutes. >> i and dennis johnson. it is my honor to welcome to r fice in brolyn fors eniccuondettptwrwriter's attemp extraordinary and even deadly pressure legal gerallyai n'grteri in ess kntot rsn t u.s.. at the publisher i am always in countering writers who tell me about the risks they are taking. the pilots say they decide to try free verse, male novelist ki of writinom

owmeg e profound about risky writing. i will let mahmoud tell you about that himself but having just published his great novel the colonel and rlier isd hi magnifi ofifn , he observe he is not really a political writer. he simply writes about life in his country. not about the shot or the ayatollahs but the people. the fact thae s beenpredthast ft e ene of his writing. i suspect i've learned more about the reality of his country from h beautiful books than i have from a thousand newspaper reports. we should be tnkfutaht him foatlsfomi thofinmerica who have been questioning the value of books and the very future of books th books are still the

ultimate, most revolutiona technology forum hmdoabreed whitur is all about. translating for mr. dowlatabadi will be a professor of new york -- history at new york unsind t gat er s h bn invaluable to numerous publishers from that part of the world helping us to first contact mahmoud dowlatabadi and other writers to find the perfect translar d uc tonatill be another great writer, hamid dabashi, prof. of iranian studies in columbia university in new york and author of 20 anhiy,r eoeum

interrupted. several books on iranian cinema and recently the book iran:the green movement and the u.s.a. and a religion of protests. you will not be surprised to learn i have askehad dabash trtio most esteemed author, mahmoud dowlatabadi. let me conclude my remarks by ying as publisher i am honored to have all three of you here. thank you for yo work and i look f conversation. >> in the interest of time i need to be very brief. we are in the presence of pct that only a decade or so older than me, i have grown up with his novels.

in many ways my inlltu uc of mahmoud dowlatabadi's fiction. s renno speaker right here, and col has not been published. i borrowed it from him two nights ago and will finish it over the nht, e novel is so exquisitely powerful and amazingly powerful that it is impossible to finish in just one book. hisigfince u

is impossible to exaggerate. i look at him and i said on my occasions it is like having a national museum come aosth n oa wnhe united states. he is not that well-known to the english-speaking world. only one of his fictions before the colonel was translated, one his autstecnd s wo mahmoud dowlatabadi that has been translated into english. and as any student of literature -- english-speaking world, ge kmad ati e a nc o as have been trying to persuade the house, is absolute ict inef e, the ten and vum

contemporary persian literatures, i can all only hope and pray there will be an occasion for it toetoli thrp o conversation with mr. dowlatabadi is asking basic questions in his own words to convey to you and to the ameran aiencby esion gnificance of this novel the colonel. i will conduct a conversion if hadai will kindly translate. [speaking in native tongue] tla

very active and productive writer throughout your life and have a large body of writing. from your point ofiew can you please explain what is the significancef pti novel? [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: very difficult question. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: it belongs in a peg atto] ve nevermane >> translator: i wasn't planning to write this book. away this bookame upon me a

tlan i finished my novel, the ten volume novel that was mentioned before, i went to the store and bought self a new notebook to write anotr nolhi wn m wch was published in person. i always struggle over the name. it is about old people. [tkingver o] inople.tesf [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: around 1983 as i was finishing that manuscript and going on to the second one i ha fe soowow eal with this inner turmoil. [speaking in native tongue] >> translar: ieg wte e fid this is not it. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: i began to get a more clear image in my mindnd n r.n to bring that igeow akinivng akinivng >>nsr:waer difficult time in iran and i am very a shed. suddenly it all translated into somebody knocking at the door at ght and the image began to gr [sin ne ue

>> translato as i began to telerend i had written notes about ts nightmare at some int. the body of this book became the peg atto]ef . peg attongue] >> translator: i was anguished and depressed and this book in a sense became an articulation of the this anguish and in a way i had to get it out of t grile toveys

depressed. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: this is like an tla io ry fearful. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so you describe the process byhich this book ess nhahas ing but i am g appeared in english and other european languages, where does this book stand in your mind in

comparison with your other major wos li misng sut and others? [speaking in native tongue] >> translar: this is a different bo thay have bor mahmoud dowlatabadi 8 >> translator: cote point i want to make is i had to write this book in orderhe s. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: it is like a bridge that took me to be last days of aging people. this has to be creat before i d nh wti. [sin ne ue

>> translator: the mind aside from the will of the person the ad tin tt e redibleernd unexpected. [speaking in native tongue] >> translato what is t ciane n th ef oatn wl? i have always been curious about this. [speaking in native tongue] >> tralator: iskedysel d io is akinivng >> translator: when i wrote this book i had written it once before when iasn is.

tla s shi abwhe th came from i came to the conclusion that our genes have certain kinds of memory contained -- memory. [speaking native tongue] >> translator: so this probably was in the works without my knowing it for a long time. [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue] [sg atto] >> translator: this book has another peculiarity in that the gean cousteaan enshndre onhelind fnch versions are comg out. in this these additions are shadows of a book that has nody becau it s n c insisotsr opinion about that? [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: realism used to be a genre in literature. ratovethg in native tongue]

turned upside-down. our lives are realis. tion :ea i rato i wrote this book 25 years ago and didn't want to publish it then t aer5 s suit wld beobm. it did not get a permit yet. [speaking in native tongue] isktetng a i permit for publication?

[speaking in native tongue] urstkeopro the ministry of culture and guidance why are you not issuing a permit for this book? [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: the person yet.lved said i haven't read it peg atto] >> translator: they kept on asking and finally pssed h abit hd fish it. why aren't you issuing a permit? [speaking in native tongue] >> tnslar: tffl erhiisgo

bout it is of very different interpretation of the revolution. incoact mr. dowlatabadigue] and talk about it but they didn't. [speaking in native tongue] gh ratohen cherth funeral of a prominent writer. the authority from the ministry said mr. dowlatabadi, i would like to seyou. he said i would lik to s yo. akinivng]

[speaking in nive tongue] >> translator:s an viceshnd is not being camouflage. and you stated that there has to [sin ne ngue] . >> translator: my usual preferred -- [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so bere my trip i wrote a letter to the ministry of culture and guidance and said we have to find another way because i am on a trip. e i bng plin llto either write a

forward or and after work or find another way that is acab tla oushi others solutions that i found, at other times meets the dead end. [saking in native tongue] >> translator: what did you want to write in the afterword? tla t i tto] formula you can use that will refer to the fact that the story was writtenong mego [sin ne ue >> translator: you have the possibility of having this published in the united states. peg atto yo ?

>> translator: i have principles about this. tehousspersian literaturat sh bbld in our own country. only for em. [speaking in native tongue] >> tnslator: jeter should be e.coy n plish [speaking in native tongue] akinivtong

[speaking in native ngue] >>nsr: there is a huge debt from of iranians and other countries like afghanistan, d you think young pricbyis ibe puhe in iran first? [speaking in native tongue] >> transtor: this is a good elt i ve i spbi ty publier

peg atto] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: it is not in and of itself an accent especially hementthe itesa l oitwn. don't you think there are possibilities for miss reading or misinterpretations or misunderstanding arising from e acthat this an be r isnalanguage but being published in other

languages? >> translator: [spe ne ue in native tongue] >> translator: this is a very ouis i ho usand i am worried thanor true to my work and hope that it doesn't create misunderstanding. [speaking in nativtongue] [speaking in native tongue]

>>nsr:yonoe person language has certain characteristics that makes it different from other languages. in person we have certain this may not come out the same way in other languages. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue]

akinivng [sin ne ue >> translator: you are creating a new readership at this is coming out in enish because it will not onlyd icr op ie edgder countries where english has become the -- one of the most prominent languages. a kind o -- anglo

colonialism. furthermore there are lots of iranians who don't speak persian that wl anymore and they gotow wanhey ar going to understand your work as it is written in english. what do you think of this whole new level orsionf lesh [sin ne ue [sakinivng

[speaking in native tongue] .. will allow the reader to make their own connections and find about new realities they may not ha known or

[speaking in native tongue] >>nsr: e i inr nyood things about yourself. i have tosay, when the german version came out, the response it by crics was very, very posive, an -[sea natue >> translator: so the translation was good to enough to allow those critics to compare him to some of the

eatest writers in the west [di [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: it caught him by surprise. it was interesting to him. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: he got similar on en wbed d asy interesting how a novel based on the realities of triable life in iran could throh go nsonld - oadaar wihe rot. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: he got an e-mail from an egyptian colleague at the university of california was asking for recoendation of persian novels watesg that from a trkish scholar, or somebody who cannot read it,nw hained a wider audience, despite the fact you're not allowed to publish it your own country. [speaking in native tongu tanto d k hotla. i hesitate to do a quick translation.

if god closes one door, he will open another door somewhere else for you. [speaking in native ng >> translator: in the last few -- at least two decades, it's been iranian ciema that has been theofrofs

of tti l a representing the art of iran. it hasn't been iran in lit churl or poetry or art or music, really. it's been cinema, because it's not possibly bound byt uaisue ta i has the own language of imagery, et. cetera. what do you think of this primacy of cinema? [speaking in naivegu >> translator: this is actual. the language of images is simpler. [speaking in native tongue] denda civilization and the people through the literature. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: it's much more difficult to translate. intrkpeaking in- pin atetue >> translator: this necessary redth e ftyme, moreatience, transferring the literature to the world from a particula place, and considering that immense difficulty of the writer goes through. ratot'h ue

aucethat is different too, for example, american cinema has taken over the world in terms of film production and distribution and,t. cetera. when i nto e, hiflk and sign beck. i don't go to the american movie to try to understand america. but it depends on the audience as well. akinivng taat so since --

[laughter] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: since the translation of [inaudible] which was widelyeant bl l,o.

in various languages in the west, there really hasn't been a major novel from iran that has beenwidely and areciated. you hiitsthc apemit g, translation, or is it because -- writer? [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: or the translors arezy? [sin ne ue >> translator: the problem with the psian language is the beauty. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: it's difficult to translate the language. it needs a great deal ofkl

an i itnd various other characters. it's very difficult. [speaking in native tongue] [laughter] >> translator: he just receipted a poem that is a amow fft it is to transaction late, i'm not going to do it. aughter] [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: poetry is more difficult. prose is also difficult. not as difficult as poetry. extremely difficult, because it duceanceaiythm and new answ diulagta extremely difficult to translate. and i've always said that in every good iranian prose writer, there's a little pow et pet peg atto]

[laughr] akinivng >> translator: this is -- now eaf--iibaching a time whenhe hatueraat it ishe and this is a new thing. and -- [speaking in native tongue] >> tralator: and [inaudible] [sakininivng aralr.reaf thavve and produced in his geographical triangle where

he comes from. these are being translated and he's being ranslated. rihernuea beginning new ldd needs to be understood better. correct? [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: they won't regret the toil that takes, th tranatorsngr tons titre [sin ne tongue]

>>nsr: r language has -- is beautiful in some way, and i'm sure that [inaudible]

consered spannish to be beautiful. in every language, there is beauty and thaaotspe peaatg extensively the works of many other -- the works of great authors that are written other languages. we already -- we do have more translation being done of the classic call pis . in at per than hasbeen generally considered as an otr, as sort of an unknown other and therefore it hasn't been approached as mu,an e ati adele readership? [speaking in native tongue]

re sayg; however, arabic literature and turkish literature has experienced less of a sort of being ignored state d othsowgnored. ias not been translated and explored in the international sort of readership

owledge international readipsbcauso the la0ysorswh been in a sense in the dog house, and i'm sure there's a better way of saying it, but gaviaei a sense of otherness and atedttian persian speakers. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: in our day, there are lots of negative things. one good thing is eople are becoming more and more aware that they -- theysldow abtk. 'sy ch time to get to

know persian literature better. [speaking in native tongue] ratollrt. [speaking in native tongue]

ratollht m . once he got the nobel prize, that created more interest in arabic literature. the same wit and te nobel that nobel has acted as a midwife for interest in different cultures. but the other quetion is about this bock. you mention this book started as a ntmare foryo uhhah nightmare that is incased in this weak bo and the night mare you actually put out, that reflects the night o i le ero we stand with the

nightmare? [speaking in nate tongue] >> translator: when they read this book, they were remembered those nightmares. an one of the main roles of edelitonwhto happened on history. [speaking in native tongue] nor m lfas worthwhile at all it would be due to the fact that i've been putting a lot of time in to understand our past. [speakg in nate tongue]

>> translator: i don't know if people have put these nightmares behind them. i don't know. but i hope so. peg atto]atit' pg. ratoiou come to new york, i i've put pictures on my facebook page,

and there has been a tremendous outpr of affection fromeple iaerye, d m and you should know that if that the -- the timeou've spent writing what you have, has earned you te gre loveof yoo. [sin ne ue translator: thank you. [laughter] rsl:soeau in ne ngue]

imectroh panels and said a whole nation is grateful to you, and he sad, no i'm grateful to the nation dote ticreme [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: is there any naletions, please, go ahead. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: when he was a child, he lived in a village, and his -- he heard his mother and other women talking about a op extremely poor and who had a number of children but he was extremely proud and did not want the others to look upon him veth any kind of pity abouthis

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: the character was a role legend and become the symbol of pride and perseverance in the facof pv. noris ue mi tla alftiin native tongue]

pa aletla an go through many different professes. i didn't know i was going to become a writer. i became a writer after of the theater. i was imprisoned and from the last few months ofiso i mbth rural legend. [speaking in native tongue] in prison is what happened you ha to write in your mind and that's what i srted doin i isryd. akinivng >> when i had finished the long one, only half way and i was in prison. nga-[sakiniv e an interruption.

also writing in my mind. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so having come out of prison, he had half of one novel that he written in s desbsee plus s e, ad he had written it in his mind, he found it difficult to bring everything back to paper. in that state of anxiety, he

goes to his ath ads erayionw bee it solution to any -- to the level of anxiety and dprtion that you have. [sin ne ue >> tnslator: he was struggling with having written it once in his mind and peg attong it on paper. gllt he went against the wind so to speak, and he sat down and wroat. he didn't get up until he fished. [sin ne ue

>> translator: toward the end of the writing of the book, the revolution was beginning, and idheutn is starting. he said, what do i care, i have to finish my novel. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: okay. the question was, for example,

mo uto te ecing beginning to end. bay -- be, thoven always was atyo sy. hed ua mozart way. the other ones was smoother. that are parts that i haven't touched or et adulted at all. this onehamreti ne myself. this one was the most edited. tsuc oe ok isative tongue]

different from my other books. i had to pay particular attention to e crafting of it. [speaking in native tongue] fft.sctlyator: i was careful s e bce he tiip it from different from my other work. d also, i was very carefully because i didn't want any part to be taken as any kind of a polical slogan. i was bengvcaulo at

t. [speaking in native tongue] [inaudible] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: there's a great peg atto]-

>> translator: he said thatwe actually -- since we were dealinwith books, it was beyond borderin teof ir aleento translating works of others into persian. and our trslation of other aragthe'at llytdv50 ofireg he ad literature from other languages, if you want to see a book about the history of arican literature, we have it there translat. there's a great l ery. ye ue

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i became familiar with rld tere ugrat awe tha great deal the translators. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: the question was in addition to yours or, in

dtrlalatheon of youruon anfle t dlot ofuro writing style, and he sd undoubtedly yes. reading international lerature had a great deal influence on peg atto]nof my style. translator: modern prose literature in iran developed rnna ereath s different. so modern prose is

interconnected. tla our translatorsngue] know a great deal about different genres that exist, and they can -- they can try to uincoft in kind of aean are january are a. -- one more question. your time in prson -- ng[ak iti

isfed.m it changed him but it didn't -- but what he s writing was a continuation of what he was writing before. [speaking in nate tongue] >> translator: my big challenge or and or at in prisas - akin tla cens ponw keep writingn my mind to continue what i was writing, so i wouldn't lose the threat of what i was writing, and then to come out and be able to finish those projects. akinivng

>> translator: usually i don like to react to sort ofdy chs ag my work of distractions, i don't le -- [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: and i've never wrn ythi abo pi akinivng >> translator: i may get a sparto ell ibo peg atto] i o intuition, i have to get that spark of intuition before i write about it. anortrwisein native tongue]

writing is much more difficult than being a -- [speaking in native tongue] yi.os,iwh sor: not a barer-- [sinin native tongue] >> translator: once the intuition is there, youdon't feel how difficult it is. peg atto]uoust i. >> translator: i feel like the whale that goes under th water and goes for long periods of times. comes out for a al breath nd peg atto] nalendh-- [laughter] [applause]

>> we'd like to hear from you. tweet us your feedback twittecom/bookv. book publishing trade show in new york city. another university press is represented, that's university of chicago press. adams is the ly ge t . miutth fall of 2012. if we can start with betricks hoffman's book. >> it is the author of "health care forso." themgero ch a relatively new law. as a result of that being the only rite that we have, the rest of the health care system comes to down to a series of rationen. how the heth care has been tiony age, nor angindreltof

exiv bk ste t ha today. hoffman gives a full history how it came to be put in place and how the experience on a level from everyone to soldiers wives' to victims of natural st >>s lfpic >> it's more of a history. i wouldn't call it -- anything that is going to give a history of health care is going to steer a little bit left or at least talk about waying we can make it aiele ol a d the university of chicago press have a point view when we choose book. >> we try not to. all of our books are vetted by readers a boardof university itk,tbdilfi n i ft e looking for strong citizenship more than anything. >> another book that is coming out this fall is michael's book. >> yes. that is a great revisionist

history of th wefarst s ew origins in the progressive era politics at the time. it shows welfare goes back earlier to 890 which was a law that allowed to feeral aid to w w teer a st during the great depression. it reframes the idea of the great depression as a disaster that the citizens through fault of their own. it traces out the history to show how the conflictontinues oulftoaseisi deth we want to help those in need while we have the skeptical suspicious responsible for their own plight. >> how many books a year does unsif agut >>vve5tis intat.

we distribute for 55 other publishers. there's 700 titleses together. >> you act as a distributer for su as whom? >> we have anyress t kerih b, reonks our reach extends further. we have literature and translation out of india. >> finally, michael goe don's new boo ish ieinma.pdo he looking at the emmanuel affair. he's forgotten today. in 1950 he published a best seller hat id tebal omrensoe catastrophic floods were as a result of -- that came into earth. it was immediately a best sell leer.