''Fortune Told in Blood'' ''(Fal-E Khoon)'' ( fa, ) is a novel by Davud Ghaffarzadegan about an Iraqi lieutenant and soldier in the Iran-Iraq war. The novel known as a modern war story. Fortune Told in Blood's context is an important feature of the novel. The main language of the book is

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and it was published in 1996 by Soreie Mehr Publication Company. M.R. Ghanoonparvar, emeritus professor of

Persian language Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and ...

and literature in the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, translated the book into English in 2008, published by Center for Middle Eastern Studies at University of Texas at

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

. The Center for Middle Eastern Studies has experience more than 20 years and has published several translated literature book from the Middle East. The book won award of "A Quarter Century of Sacred Defense Books" festival in the novel category between 700 books.

Narrative

''Fortune Told in Blood'' is a novel about two Iraqi soldiers in Iran-Iraq war. There is difference between them but the war demolished their life. An Iraqi

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

and soldier sent on a mountain for identifying Iranian movements and installations. The lieutenant sees the area with field glass for tagging Iranian position on the map. Their situation on mountain was relatively safe and they could snowbound in their trench. For this reason, they did not worry and fear. They had many magazines and cartomancy in their trench. One day after lunch, they divined and saw bloody events in their omen. After this day occurred bloody events for them.

Author

Davud Ghaffarzadegan, the Iranian teacher and writer, was born in 1959 in

Ardebil Ardabil (, fa, اردبیل, Ardabīl or ''Ardebīl'') is a city in northwestern Iran, and the capital of Ardabil Province. As of the 2022 census, Ardabil's population was 588,000. The dominant majority in the city are ethnic Iranian Azerbaija ...

. He wrote more than two decades and published over twenty-five short story collections and novels for adults and teenagers. His stories were translated into

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, and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

. In the ''Fortune Told in Blood'', he wrote the novel from the Iraqi's view and emphasized the human role in war. The novel and its suitable translation outspread the Iran-Iraq war to the west.

Publisher

The book was written in 1996 and published in Persian by Soreie Mehr Publication Company in 2011. ''Fortune Told in Blood'' has been nominated for and received numerous awards, and has been reprinted many times in Iran. According to critics, ''Fortune Told in Blood'' is one of the most prominent novels about the Iran-Iraq war in recent years. In 2008, the book was translated from Persian into English by Mohammad Reza Ghanounparvar and published by Center for Middle Eastern Studies at University of Texas at Austin. The Center for Middle Eastern Studies has experience more than 20 years and has published several translated literature book from the Middle East.

Translator

Mohammad Reza Ghanoonparvar is UT Professor of Persian and Comparative Literature. Ghanoonparvar has written several books about Persian literature and culture as ''In a Persian Mirror (1993)'', ''Translating the Garden (2001)'', ''Reading Chubak (2005)'', and ''Persian Cuisine (2006)''. ''By the Pen'', ''The Patient Stone'', ''Savushun'', and ''The Myth of Creation'' are the books that Ghanoonparvar has translated into English.

Awards

On 27 September 2009, ''Fortune Told in Blood'' won award of "A Quarter Century of Sacred Defense Books" festival in the novel category. The book was selected between 700 books in the festival.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Fortune Told in Blood in Google book

* ttp://www.complete-review.com/reviews/iran/meskub1a.htm Translating the Garden (2001)
Reading Chubak (2005)

Persian Cuisine. Traditional, Regional, and Modern Foods
1996 novels Iranian novels Novels set during the Iran–Iraq War Persian-language novels 1980 in Iran