The destiny of outsiders
I lost my best friend this week. My dear pal, Abbas Maroufi, a brilliant writer, talented poet, and excellent literature teacher, lived in Berlin in exile for over twenty-five years. The Islamic regime sentenced him to death, so he had to go through so much to get out of Iran and find a home in Germany. In his final days of battle with cancer, his wish was to get better and finish his seven unfinished novels. Abbas loved literature and always worked hard to help elevate Persian literature in any way he could. In his years of exile, he founded the most prominent Persian bookstore and publishing house in Europe, The Art, and Literature Khaneh Hedayat Bookstore, in Berlin. For many years, Abbas taught creative writing classes and trained hundreds of good writers. His students joined his workshops from around the world. I always thought he should have been teaching literature at the best universities in Iran instead of from his home in exile! Abbas wrote seven novels, seven short story collections, two poetry collections, an essay collection, and much more.I can not pretend that I am ok because I am not. My friend’s death has brought so many questions to my mind. Even though he was not stabbed in front of an audience like Salman Rushdie, he suffered a lot during his exile years and was constantly under intense pressure from different groups. It is a reality that the Islamic Republic spends a tremendous amount of money
to destroy Persian literature. They have numerous dirty hands inside and outside Iran to sabotage and stop Iranian writers’ hard work. They even have connections in foreign university programs to promote their fanatic ideology. I do not remember even one of the Middle EasternStudies programs having invited Abbas to read his stories to the students.No
, I am not ok. When I look back and remember the pain that the Islamic regime forced on Abbas. We worked together. We went to several cities in different countries to read our stories to Persian speakers. We had great discussions about books, writers, and literature. He was a great friend and a wonderful human. Now he is gone, and I miss him more than ever.
Source: Substack