''Fortune Told in Blood'' (, or ''Fal-E Khoon'') is a 1996

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 ...

-language war novel by Davud Ghaffarzadegan about an Iraqi lieutenant and soldier in the Iran-Iraq war. It was translated into English in 2008 by

M.R. Ghanoonparvar Mohammad Reza Ghanoonparvar () is a Professor Emeritus of Persian and Comparative Literature at the Faculty of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, Austin, whose expertise includes the work ...

and published by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

. The book won an award in the "A Quarter Century of Sacred Defense Books" festival in the novel category (which consisted of about 700 books.)

Synopsis

''Fortune Told in Blood'' is a novel about two Iraqi soldiers in the Iran-Iraq war. They are quite different people, but the war destroyed both of their lives. The two men, a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

and soldier, are sent to a mountain in order to identify Iranian movements and installations. Their position on the mountain is relatively safe, as they are snowbound in a bunker, so they do not worry much. They have many magazines in their trench to keep them from boredom and keep thoughts of death aside. One day after lunch, they read

tarot cards Tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a set of playing cards used in tarot games and in fortune-telling or divination. From at least the mid-15th century, the tarot was used to play trick-taking car ...

together and see bloody events in their future. After this day, bloody events began to happen to them.

Author

Davud Ghaffarzadegan, the Iranian teacher and writer, was born in 1959 in

Ardebil Ardabil (, ) is a city in northwestern Iran. It is in the Central District of Ardabil County, Ardabil province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. The city of Ardabil lies close to the borders of the Re ...

. He wrote more than two decades and published over twenty-five short story collections and novels for adults and teenagers. His stories have been translated into English, Chinese, Turkish, and

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 ...

. He wrote ''Fortune Told in Blood'' from the Iraqi's point of view and emphasized the human role in war.

Publisher

The book was written in 1996 and published in Persian by Soore Mehr Publishing Company in 2011. ''Fortune Told in Blood'' has been nominated for and received numerous awards, and has been reprinted many times in Iran. According to critics, ''Fortune Told in Blood'' is one of the most prominent novels about the Iran-Iraq war in recent years. In 2008, the book was translated from Persian into English by Mohammad Reza Ghanoonparvar and published by Center for Middle Eastern Studies at University of Texas at Austin.

Translator

Mohammad Reza Ghanoonparvar is UT Professor of Persian and Comparative Literature. Ghanoonparvar has written several books about Persian literature and culture as ''In a Persian Mirror (1993)'', ''Translating the Garden (2001)'', ''Reading Chubak (2005)'', and ''Persian Cuisine (2006)''. ''By the Pen'', ''The Patient Stone'', ''Savushun'', and ''The Myth of Creation'' are a few books that Ghanoonparvar has translated into English.

Awards

On 27 September 2009, ''Fortune Told in Blood'' won award of "A Quarter Century of Sacred Defense Books" festival in the novel category. The book was selected from 700 books in the festival.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Fortune Told in Blood in Google book

* ttp://www.complete-review.com/reviews/iran/meskub1a.htm Translating the Garden (2001)
Reading Chubak (2005)

Persian Cuisine. Traditional, Regional, and Modern Foods
1996 novels 20th-century Iranian novels Novels set during the Iran–Iraq War Persian-language novels 1980 in Iran