There are few translations into English of Iranian Simin Daneshvar, a writer for nearly five decades. Each of the six tales has a folkloric tone, but their strength lies in presenting the woman's point of view, the infrastructure of interpersonal bonds that still operates in the face of rapid change. Neither preachy, nor judgmental, the stories often contain a universal message.
Difficult circumstances bring people into contact with purpose, wisdom, and the ever-present veil.
Mage Publishers must be lauded for its decision to make more of Simin Daneshvar's works available to the Englishspeaking world. The absence of an introduction or a glossary of terms in the most recent volume of Daneshvar's short stories signals the safe assumption on the part of the publishers that the marketplace or audience to which Sutra is targeted no longer needs to be helped with untranslated and untranslatable terms. Those who read Daneshvar in English, it would seem, have gained enough familiarity with the social and cultural setting of her works to proceed directly to the stories. Perhaps this decision on the part of the publishers could have been more emphatically conveyed to the translators, who, out of habit, have retained some italicized and untranslated Persian words one would normally expect to look up in a glossary of terms. The decision to do without the usual introduction and glossary is a refreshing turn away from a preoccupation with the linguistic and cultural overtones of the original text.