TEHRAN – A new Persian translation of American writer Kate Chopin’s controversial novel “The Awakening” has been published in Persian.

Considered a landmark work of early feminist fiction, the book has been translated by Mahan Sayyarmanesh. Davat Moaser is the publisher of the book.

When first published in 1899, “The Awakening” shocked readers with its honest treatment of female marital infidelity. 

Audiences accustomed to the pieties of late Victorian romantic fiction were taken aback by Chopin’s daring portrayal of a woman trapped in a stifling marriage, who seeks and finds passionate physical love outside the confines of her domestic situation.

Aside from its unusually frank treatment of a then-controversial subject, the novel is widely admired today for its literary qualities. 

Edmund Wilson characterized it as a work “quite uninhibited and beautifully written, which anticipates D. H. Lawrence in its treatment of infidelity.” 

Although the theme of marital infidelity is no longer shocking, few novels have plumbed the psychology of a woman involved in an illicit relationship with the perception, artistry and honesty that Kate Chopin brought to “The Awakening”.

Bidgol has previously published a Persian translation of “The Awakening” by Farzaneh Doosti.

Photo: Front cover of the new Persian translation of Kate Chopin’s novel “The Awakening”.

MMS/YAW