Charles-Henri de Fouchecour Made Honorary Member of Persian Literature Academy
TEHRAN.(Iranart) – French Orientalist and Hafez expert Charles- Henri de Fouchecour has been selected for honorary membership in the Academy of Persian Language and Literature.
He received the membership at the Iranian Cultural Center in Paris during a special ceremony attended by a number of French scholars and Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Iran to UNESCO Ahmad Jalali.
De Fouchecour is famous for his translation of the Divan of Hafez and the articles of Shams-i Tabrizi, the wandering sage who later became the mentor of the Persian poet and mystic Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi during the 13th century CE.
“Professor De Fouchecour’s efforts in the translation of the Divan of Hafez are extremely valuable and moreover, his great courage to render the articles of Shams-i Tabrizi is like a miracle, because it is even difficult to read these articles in Persian,” Jalali said.
In her short speech, Leili Anvar, a professor of the Persian language at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO) in Paris, praised De Fouchecour for his contributions to Persian culture and his role in inspiring her to study Persian literature.
Eve Feuillebois, a professor of Persian literature and Islamology at the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris, also said, “De Fouchecour inspired love of Persian literature, culture and civilization among his students.”
For his part, De Fouchecour delivered a short speech celebrating Persian language scholars, including Gilbert Lazard, Nasrollah Purjavadi, Mohammad-Ali Movahhed, Samad Movahhed and Iraj Afshar.
The 94-year-old scholar served as the director of the Iranology Department of l’Institut Français in Tehran from 1975 to 1979. From 1972 to 1985, he also held the chair of Persian literature at the INALCO.
His work in the field of classical Persian literature is vast. He is the founder of Abstracta Iranica and also directed the bibliographical and critical review of Iranian studies. His studies on Persian literature have been published in over 50 articles.
Iran has celebrated De Fouchecour’s achievements during various occasions, latest of which was held by the Iranian Cultural Center in collaboration with the INALCO in January 2018.
In addition, Cinéma Vérité, Iran’s international documentary festival, honored him in November 2011. “Majnun”, a documentary by Iranian director Mohammad-Ali Farsi about De Fouchecour, was screened at the festival.
Source: Tehran Times