TEHRAN -- A Persian audio book of American writer Jean Websters 1912 epistolary novel Daddy-Long-Legs has been published in Tehran.The audio book was unveiled during a ceremony at Tehrans Book City Institute on Monday evening.
The narrators of the audio book Zohreh Shokufandeh and Jorj Petrosian, translator Golnar Navidan and a number of cultural figures attended the ceremony.
Daddy-Long-Legs follows the protagonist, a young girl named Jerusha Judy Abbott, through her college years. She writes letters to her benefactor, a rich man whom she has never seen.
The audio book has been recorded and released by Raha Films, a major Iranian studio, in which Asghar Farhadis French-language film The Past was dubbed into Persian.
I think the idea of the publication of audio books is amazing, said Shokufandeh, who previously voiced the character of Judy in My Daddy Long Legs, a 1990 Japanese anime television series based on Daddy-Long-Legs, for the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.
Sometimes we do not have the opportunity to read a book or we are unable to concentrate. Or sometimes, we are stuck in heavy traffic and our time is going to waste. Listening to these books could lessen stress and anxiety in this situation, she added.
The narrating the audio book has been directed by Shokufandeh.
Mere narration for such productions may be boring. Thus I think we should add dramatic effects to the work to make it more interesting, she stated.
She said that Charles Dickens Oliver Twist is highly appropriate to be made into an audio book.
Several Persian translations of Daddy-Long-Legs have previously been published in Iran. However, Navidan was commissioned to provide a new translation of the work.
Since my childhood, I was interested in the novel and in other words I have lived with this book, Navidan said.
I have always asked myself, years after its authorship, why has Daddy-Long-Legs still kept its freshness and is not boring even when read again and again, she added.
I think the main reason is the hope the story offers. The hope for progress and a better tomorrow makes the story more attractive, she stated.
Daddy-Long-Legs was Websters best-known work. Webster herself adapted it into a stage play which debuted in 1914.
By Tehran Times
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