''Borunsi'' () is a selection of memoirs written by the family and friends of Abd-al-Hussain Borunsi, the commander of the 18th Brigade of Javadolaemeh during the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...

. Written by Saeed A'kef, the book has been reprinted more than 200 times since its first edition in 2004, and is amongst the bestselling books in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Background

Abd-al-Hussain Borunsi was born in 1942 in a village in

Khorasan KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West and Central Asia that encompasses western and no ...

, Iran. In his early life he worked in construction whilst studying religious texts on the side. He was imprisoned and tortured by

SAVAK The Bureau for Intelligence and Security of the State (), shortened to as SAVAK () or S.A.V.A.K. () was the secret police of the Imperial State of Iran. It was established in Tehran in 1957 by national security law. and continued to operate un ...

due to his intense resistance to the

Pahlavi dynasty The Pahlavi dynasty () is an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian royal dynasty that was the Pahlavi Iran, last to rule Iran before the country's monarchy was abolished by the Iranian Revolution in 1979. It was founded in 1925 by Reza Shah, Reza S ...

. He was killed on 14 March 1985, in the operational area of

Operation Badr (1985) Operation Badr was an Iranian operation conducted during the Iran–Iraq War against the forces of Ba'athist Iraq. The Iranians launched their offensive on March 10 and succeeded in capturing a part of the Basra-Amarah-Baghdad highway. The foll ...

whilst he was commanding the 18th Brigade of Javadolaemeh. His body was left in the operational area. Twenty-seven years later, in 2011, during an investigation into Borunsi's death, his body was found and buried on the anniversary of

Fatimah bint Muhammad Fatima bint Muhammad (; 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fatima al-Zahra' (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, the fourth of the Rashidun caliphs and the first Shia imam. Fat ...

Mashhad Mashhad ( ; ), historically also known as Mashad, Meshhed, or Meshed in English, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. ...

Publication

''Borunsi'' was first published in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

by Mulk A'zam Publication Company in 2004, and has been reprinted over 200 times since. The book was published privately, since state publications were regarded as using abundant promotion, noteworthy for the state of Iran. According to the writer, "books similar to ''Borunsi'' had just been rejected because of the taboo, but everybody saw that books about the Iran-Iraq war could make sales too". The book has been translated into many languages, including

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

, and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

. The Arabic translation sold one million copies in its first year of publication. The publisher has made claims that the Arabic and Urdu distributions of the book were stolen, translated and illegally distributed. ''Borunsi'' was presented at the

Frankfurt Book Fair The Frankfurt Book Fair (German: , FBM) is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. The five-day annual event in mid-October is held at the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds in Frankfurt am ...

in 2011.

Narrative

This book is regarded as a Sacred Defense book in Iran, as it explores the life of Borunsi through the memories of his wife and friends. The book presents 70 short narratives about the character and personality of the life of the commander, each one coupled with a photo of Borunsi.

References

{{reflist, 30em Iran–Iraq War memoirs Iranian biographies 2004 non-fiction books Iranian memoirs

Background

Publication

Narrative

See also

References