"My whole existence is a dark poem."

In August, we bring the feminist precursors of 20th-century Iranian literature, the sharp rebel voice of modern Persian poetry - Frog Farrohzad's greatest hits, Let Us Believe in the Dawn of This Cold Season.

Reading Farrokhzad, it is hard to believe that such frank language and rich emotions, so full of women's life experience, were born in Iranian society in the 1960s. There is darkness in her poems, and glimmers of hope; Personal experience is also a social aspect. Although she died young, leaving only five books of poetry, she had an extremely important impact on 20th century Iranian literature.

What was Farrokhzad's life, and how can we read her lines of longing and joy? This article is taken from the introduction of this book, and let us step into the world of Farrokhzad, believing that at the dawn of this cold season, we are still standing on the threshold of love.

Her wonderful life came to an abrupt end

Frog Farrohzad was born in Tehran in 1935, the fourth child of a career army officer. Frog's early life was not much different from that of many other upper-middle-class Iranian women.

She attended school until ninth grade, then enrolled in a girls' craft school to study painting and embroidery, both considered fashionable arts for young women. At the age of 16, she fell in love with her neighbor and distant relative, Parviz Shapur, a satirist and cartoonist 15 years her senior. Despite her parents' objections, Flog married him and the two moved to Ahvaz, where Shapur got a job in the Treasury. A year later, Flog gave birth to her son, Kamiar, her only child. Three years later, Frog decided to leave her husband. In those days, it was taboo for a woman to ask for a divorce in Iran, and full custody of children almost always went to the father. Frog was even denied occasional visits to Kamiar, which left an indelible mark on her life and poetry. Perhaps it was this that led to her having a nervous breakdown in September 1955 and checking herself into a Tehran psychiatric clinic. After recovering, Frog published her first collection of poems, Prisoners, in 1955. He then published a second volume of poetry, The Wall (1956). Soon after, she became interested in cinematography, acting and production.

In the male-dominated Iranian literary and art world, she created a sensation with her willingness to express her honest and sensual feminine feelings and her liberal lifestyle, so much so that she felt she had to leave Iran before the publication of her third collection of poems, Rebellion (1958). In 1956, she went to Italy to study cinematography and art (or to escape the stigma). Her trip to Italy lasted nine months, after which she visited her brother, who was studying medicine in Munich. There she also learned some German and, with the help of her brother, translated an anthology of 29 German poets from the first half of the 20th century. The anthology, published posthumously in 1980, is titled "My Death Will Come One Day," from a poem by the German poet Ossip Kalenter that inspired her to write "The Hereafter," her epitaph.

After returning to Iran, Frog became an assistant to the talented filmmaker and writer

Ibrahim Golestan. Although Golestan is married and 13 years older than her, Frog falls in love with him and lives with him, which is another "scandal" for her in the Iranian literary and art world. In 1960, Flog, depressed by family and financial problems and the separation from her son, unsuccessfully attempted suicide by taking sleeping pills. With Golestan's help, Frog made several documentaries, the best of which was The House Is Black, based on life in a leper colony in Tabriz. During filming, she lived in the colony for 12 days, mingling freely with lepers and adopting a leper boy named Hassan Mansouri. The film won the award for Best documentary at the Oberhausen Film Festival in Germany in 1963.

"My whole existence is a dark poem."

In August, we bring the feminist precursors of 20th-century Iranian literature, the sharp rebel voice of modern Persian poetry - Frog Farrohzad's greatest hits, Let Us Believe in the Dawn of This Cold Season.

Reading Farrokhzad, it is hard to believe that such frank language and rich emotions, so full of women's life experience, were born in Iranian society in the 1960s. There is darkness in her poems, and glimmers of hope; Personal experience is also a social aspect. Although she died young, leaving only five books of poetry, she had an extremely important impact on 20th century Iranian literature.

What was Farrokhzad's life, and how can we read her lines of longing and joy? This article is taken from the introduction of this book, and let us step into the world of Farrokhzad, believing that at the dawn of this cold season, we are still standing on the threshold of love.

Her wonderful life came to an abrupt end

Frog Farrohzad was born in Tehran in 1935, the fourth child of a career army officer. Frog's early life was not much different from that of many other upper-middle-class Iranian women.

She attended school until ninth grade, then enrolled in a girls' craft school to study painting and embroidery, both considered fashionable arts for young women. At the age of 16, she fell in love with her neighbor and distant relative, Parviz Shapur, a satirist and cartoonist 15 years her senior. Despite her parents' objections, Flog married him and the two moved to Ahvaz, where Shapur got a job in the Treasury. A year later, Flog gave birth to her son, Kamiar, her only child. Three years later, Frog decided to leave her husband. In those days, it was taboo for a woman to ask for a divorce in Iran, and full custody of children almost always went to the father. Frog was even denied occasional visits to Kamiar, which left an indelible mark on her life and poetry. Perhaps it was this that led to her having a nervous breakdown in September 1955 and checking herself into a Tehran psychiatric clinic. After recovering, Frog published her first collection of poems, Prisoners, in 1955. He then published a second volume of poetry, The Wall (1956). Soon after, she became interested in cinematography, acting and production.

In the male-dominated Iranian literary and art world, she created a sensation with her willingness to express her honest and sensual feminine feelings and her liberal lifestyle, so much so that she felt she had to leave Iran before the publication of her third collection of poems, Rebellion (1958). In 1956, she went to Italy to study cinematography and art (or to escape the stigma). Her trip to Italy lasted nine months, after which she visited her brother, who was studying medicine in Munich. There she also learned some German and, with the help of her brother, translated an anthology of 29 German poets from the first half of the 20th century. The anthology, published posthumously in 1980, is titled "My Death Will Come One Day," from a poem by the German poet Ossip Kalenter that inspired her to write "The Hereafter," her epitaph.

After returning to Iran, Frog became an assistant to the talented filmmaker and writer

Ibrahim Golestan. Although Golestan is married and 13 years older than her, Frog falls in love with him and lives with him, which is another "scandal" for her in the Iranian literary and art world. In 1960, Flog, depressed by family and financial problems and the separation from her son, unsuccessfully attempted suicide by taking sleeping pills. With Golestan's help, Frog made several documentaries, the best of which was The House Is Black, based on life in a leper colony in Tabriz. During filming, she lived in the colony for 12 days, mingling freely with lepers and adopting a leper boy named Hassan Mansouri. The film won the award for Best documentary at the Oberhausen Film Festival in Germany in 1963.