Mahmud Haddadi Information

Mahmoud Haddadi (born March 16, 1948, in Qazvin) is a distinguished Iranian translator and retired assistant professor in the Department of German Language and Literature at Shahid Beheshti University’s Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences. He is widely regarded as one of the leading figures in Iran’s contemporary translation movement, bridging Persian and German literature for over half a century.

 Life

Mahmoud Haddadi was born in 1948 in Qazvin. He completed his early education and part of high school there before moving to Tehran with his family. After finishing high school in literature, he emigrated to Germany and studied German literature at the Free University of Berlin (FU Berlin), earning his master’s degree in 1988. He lived in Germany for about ten years before returning to Iran in 1979. From 1983 onward, he served as an assistant professor at Shahid Beheshti University, educating generations of translators and students of comparative literature.

 Translation and Academic Career

Haddadi began translating German-language literary works in 1984, producing over 40 titles from major authors. His translations are celebrated for their precision, fluency, and fidelity to the original spirit, often revised meticulously over years. He views translation as “the art of thinking in another language,” emphasizing deep understanding and creative recreation rather than mere word-for-word substitution.

In addition to translation, Haddadi has played a significant role in education, training numerous translators and scholars. He has served on editorial boards, including that of Roshd magazine, and authored educational texts like Fundamentals of Translation.

 Selected Translations

– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust (Parts 1 and 2), West-Eastern Divan, The Sorrows of Young Werther, Hermann and Dorothea

– Heinrich Mann: The Blue Angel, The Subordinate, Paris Blood Wedding

– Thomas Mann: Death in Venice, Tonio Kröger, Tristan

– Friedrich Dürrenmatt: The Labyrinth

– Stefan Zweig: The Struggle with the Demon: Hölderlin’s Biography

– Friedrich Hölderlin: Hyperion, What Remains: Selected Poems, Poetic Dwelling

– Robert Musil: The Confusions of Young Törless

– Heinrich von Kleist: Michael Kohlhaas

– Christoph Ransmayr: The Last World

– Hans Magnus Enzensberger: In Praise of Illiteracy

– Elias Canetti: The Voices of Marrakesh

– And works by Hermann Hesse, Bruno Frank, Ivan Turgenev, and others