"Two days earlier, on 13 June 2025, missiles from Israel began striking Tehran. There were no sirens, just sudden, violent blasts. The internet was completely cut off. I was in my apartment, translating Jhumpa Lahiri's Translating Myself and Others a book about what it means to transport words across languages, and the ethics and anxieties of inhabiting another's voice. As buildings fell, I sat editing a text that argued, in its quiet way, for the endurance of meaning."
"One night, when the blasts were too close, my family and I ran down the stairs toward the basement beneath the parking garage. I couldn't stop thinking about the bookshelves in my apartment, filled with dictionaries and rare volumes I had spent years collecting. That library was my lifework, and I didn't know if I, or it, would survive the night. My partner left with her parents for towns they thought safer; days later those towns were also hit."
Missiles struck Tehran on 13 June 2025, producing sudden blasts, no sirens, and a complete internet blackout. A translator continued editing Jhumpa Lahiri's Translating Myself and Others amid collapsing buildings, noting the book's argument for the endurance of meaning. Printing presses and bookstores shut, leaving a ready-to-print translation stranded. Family members fled to other towns, a daughter boarded a train past burning factories, and the narrator sought safety in a basement while fearing the loss of a collected library of dictionaries and translated works. The bombardment eroded the ability to work by severing electricity, internet, and access to essential reference tools.
#tehran-missile-strikes #translation-and-language #books-and-cultural-heritage #displacement-and-blackout
Read at www.theguardian.com
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