The Blind Owl
"Buf-e Kur"
by
Sadeq Hedayat
Persian painting
The Blind Owl is a novella written in journal form
with first person narration. It is a tale told by a man,
physically and mentally ill, writing only for "his shadow."
There are similiarities between this novella and Rilke's
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, of which the most
striking is the "prose-poetry" of both books. Another similarity
is the dominant themes of the past, loneliness, fear, and death.
Similar symbols are also employed in both books. (For a detailed
discussion, see Manoutchehr Mohandessi,
"Hedayat and
Rilke," Comparative Literature, 23, No. 3, Summer 1971,
pp. 209-216.)
The first paragraph of Hedayat's Blind Owl [Bombay, 1315 (1936)]
The Blind Owl
"Buf-e Kur"
There are sores which slowly erode the mind in solitude like a canker.
It is impossible to convey a just idea of the agony which this disease can inflict. In general, people are apt to relegate such inconceivable
sufferings to the category of incredible...
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Translation from the Persian by D. P. Costello,
Grove Press, Inc., New York, NY, December 1957.
