Farid Javaherkalam

Translators have played an important role in cultural exchanges throughout history. By choosing the best books and transferring them to the host language, expert translators have provided extensive services to their fellow speakers; although the names of many of them may have been lost in history. In Iran, many personalities spent many years of their lives translating various works into Persian and were able to build a bridge between Iranian culture and other cultures of the world. Farid Javaherkalam was one of the greatest translators of Iran, who also had a hand in writing. The works translated by Javaherkalam into Persian have a long list and include various topics. The translation of the books “History of the Arab People”, “Political History of Achaemenids”, the Works of Sigmund Freud, “The History of Chinese Philosophy, and the authorship of books such as “Commentary on the Mosibat Nameh of Sheikh Fariduddin Attar Neishaburi” are among Javaherkalam’s works in the field of writing and translation.

Biography

Farid Javaherkalam was born in Malikabad neighborhood in the south of Tehran in the year 1925 AD. Farid’s father was a teacher of the English language and had been trained by prominent professors. Farid contracted typhoid as a child and was in a coma for a week. According to Javaherkalam, this disease caused his parents to spend utmost love in raising him and turn him into a spoiled child! During Farid’s childhood, there were very few modern schools, which were not very popular. He, thus, joined Amir Mo’ezzi School and underwent his primary education there. Javaherkalam underwent his primary education in classes with more than 50 students, and because of this, teachers did not have the time to pay attention to all of their students. Therefore, Farid’s mother started teaching him at home. After completing elementary school, Javaherkalam entered a high school named “Noor va Sedaqat” in Sarcheshmeh neighborhood of Tehran. According to him, he was very mischievous during this period and annoyed the teachers by messing up the class! Farid learned the first English lessons from his father during this period. He considers receiving the book “Time Machine” by Herbert George Wells from his father, as one of the turning points of his interest in the English language.

After completing secondary school, Javaherkalam entered the University of Tehran by getting the first rank in the university entrance exam and received a bachelor’s degree in English literature in the early 1950s AD. After graduating from Tehran University, he went to France to study psychology at Alliance University. At the same time, Javaherkalam completed his mastery of the French language. The developments of that period and the fall of Mossadegh’s government in 1953 AD resulted in the discontinuation of the allocation of foreign currency to foreign students, forcing Javaherkalam to engage in such jobs as carpentry and selling newspapers to earn a living.

Sometime later, Javaherkalam returned to Iran, and noticing the interest of academicians in Freud and Freudianism, he translated one of Freud’s books. Even though Freud’s abstruse language made it very difficult to translate his works, Javaherkalam’s mastery made the translation of this book very popular. Javaherkalam’s translation of this book has been of interest for about 70 years and has been reprinted many times. In the early years of his return from Europe, he worked as a translator at the Indian Embassy in Tehran and, at the same time, engaged in journalistic activities. During the next few decades, Javaherkalam continued to translate various works, especially in the fields of literature, history, and psychology. Javaherkalam worked as an English teacher for some time and after the victory of the Islamic Revolution (1979) he went to America to study at the University of Colorado and received a master’s degree in English literature. After receiving his master’s degree, Javaherkalam returned to Iran and continued his translation work. According to him, his passion for discovery and new experiences was the reason for stepping into the field of translation. He also believed that reading texts in the original language is an aspect of discovery.

Demise

This prolific Iranian teacher and translator was engaged in translation until the last days of his life and finally passed away at the age of 98 in the early days of the year 2024 AD.