São Paulo – The story of a Syrian man, his wife and calligraphy in Damascus are the themes of a fictional work that has just been released in Brazil by the Estação Liberdade publishing house. The book, which has just arrived at the country’s leading bookstores about two weeks ago, is called “O Segredo do Calígrafo” (The Secret of the Calligrapher) and was written by the Syrian Rafik Schami. Schami lives in Germany, so the book was written in German and translated into Portuguese by Estação Liberdade.
According to the joint publisher at Estação Liberdade, Leandro Rodrigues, the work has also been translated into other languages, such as English and Spanish, and Estação Liberdade decided to publish it in Brazil because it sold well in Europe. The book’s quality also helped. “It is a nice book to read, it has a more adventurous side to it and it also introduces Syrian culture, the culture of Damascus, which is not so common to the Brazilian public,” says Rodrigues.
"The secret of the calligrapher" is a novel divided into two parts. It tells the story of a high-level calligrapher in Syria, Hamid Farsi, who is married to Nura. He is a Muslim and their marriage was arranged by their families. Nura falls in love with a Christian man. At the same time, she is harassed by an Arab who, by an irony of fate, buys calligraphies from Farsi to present his beloved one. In this first part of the book, Farsi seems to be a villain.
But the second part of the work, entitled Second Core of the Truth – the first is called First Core of the Truth –, tells the calligrapher’s story. And then the reader realizes the reasons for the behaviour of Farsi, who initially just comes off as cold towards his wife. Along with the Syrian’s story, which is not based on real life characters, comes the history of calligraphy in Damascus. The publishing house describes the book as a “mirror of 1950s Syrian society.”
Schami, the author, was born in Damascus in 1946, and even established and directed an in-company newspaper named Al-Muntalek in Syria. While still young, however, at age 25, he moved into Germany. In the European, Schami studied chemistry and had several jobs before he started dedicating himself to literature, in 1982. Now he is a renowned author, books of his have been awarded and been translated into 24 different languages. “The Secret of the Calligrapher” was published in Brazil through a contact between Estação Liberdade and Schami’s German publishing house, Hanser.
The book was translated by Silvia Bittencourt and features calligraphy by Ismat Amiralai, a Syrian from Damascus who has worked with painting, calligraphy and graphic arts in Damascus, in Beirut, Lebanon, and in Mannheim, Germany. Schami counted on Amiralai’s collaboration for the novel.
Service:
Book: The secret of the calligrapher
Author: Rafik Schami
Translation: Silvia Bittencourt
Calligraphy: Ismat Amiralai
Price: 63 reals (US$ 37)
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
