‘Refiq Hedayat’ Enters Book Market

According to a reporter from the Iran Book News Agency (IBNA), Farhad Keshavarzi, in his novel ‘Refiq Hedayat,’ has written the story of a person named Morad, who is a garage worker and has come from a provincial town to Tehran to see Hedayat; Morad wishes to be ‘Refiq Hedayat’ (Hedayat’s Friend/Comrade).

The story begins with these sentences: «When his work was finished, he quickly went home. He had rented a room in Shoush Square, a house that had five other tenants besides him. He washed his hands and face and hurried to Istanbul Crossroads to go and loiter in front of or around Ferdows Café, hoping to see him. When he reached the café, anxiety tangled him. He stood two or three steps away from the door to better see inside the café if someone went in or out.»

In a section from the text on the back of the book, we read: «Hedayat turned and looked at Morad. His heart fluttered, and then he felt good about him. He could talk a lot to his townspeople about these few moments and amaze them. He asked the price of the book. Then he reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out the change. He felt ashamed. First, he should have seen or asked the price of the book, then gone and counted the change. How many one-rial and two-rial coins he had. Now that he had seen Hedayat, he couldn’t leave. He hurriedly counted the money and gave it to Ramazani. Ramazani counted the coins and gave him back one two-rial coin. He said: “It’s extra.” He put the two-rial coin in his trouser pocket and gestured to Hedayat with his head…»

Eynek Publishing recently offered this book in 274 pages for 340,000 Tomans.