Abolhassan Najafi

Abolhassan Najafi, (28 June 1929 – 22 January 2016)^[1] was an Iranian writer and translator.

Najafi was born in Najaf, Iraq, into a family from Isfahan. He began his literary activities in 1960s and translated several books from French into Persian. He co-published a successful literary periodical entitled Jong-e Isfahan (Persian: جُنگ اصفهان‎‎). After revolution he published a controversial book on Persian usage entitled Let's Avoid Mistakes (غلط ننویسیم).

Najafi published over twenty books, among these a dictionary on Persian slang, elements of general linguistics and its application to the Persian language. He translated French novels to Persian, notable works from Jean-Paul Sartre (Le Diable et le bon Dieu, Les sequestres d'Altona, Qu'est-ce que la litérature), André Malraux (Antimémoire), Albert Camus (Caligula), Roger Martin du Gard (Les Thibault), Claude Lévi-Strauss (La race et l'histoire), and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Le Petit Prince).^[2]

Najafi was a member of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature (1990–2016).

References

1. Prominent Iranian linguist Abolhasan Najafi dies at 86
2. "Another Persian translation of "Little Prince" coming". Tehran Times. 23 August 2009. Retrieved 3 April 2010.