TEHRAN -- Tribute was paid to the writer and creator of the novel “Da” in a ceremony held at the venue of Mehr News Agency on Monday.

Several cultural figures, including Iranian Majlis Cultural Committee member Hojjatoleslam Mohammdreza Mirtajeddini, Mehr News Agency Managing Director Parviz Esmaeili, writer Morteza Sarhangi and scholar Ebrahim Khodayar attended the ceremony.
Esmaeili regarded “Da” as a book with great appeal and relavancy and said, “Narrating the great epic of Sacred Defense is a huge responsibility and there are many who would like to write and depict such stories.”
“Da”, written by Seyyedeh Azam Hosseini, contains recollections by Seyyedeh Zahra Hosseini of the time when the Iraqi army captured Khorramshahr in the early days of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. It is a true-life story of a teenager who experienced the early days of the war in Khorramshahr.
Esmaeili also expressed his regret that there is a recession in producing works on Sacred Defense especially in cinema, while this genre is full of life and creativity.
“The appearance of ‘Da’ blew a new breath into the contemporary literature, the likes of which no one could believe. Gathering the recollections of a woman narrated within a 1000-hour time limit was not an easy task. ‘Da’ is an ingenious literary work that will encourage others to produce such stories,” he stated.
MP Mirtajeddini described the book as beautiful, influential and lasting, and said, “Both the central theme (Sacred Defense) and its narration via a female writer are very appealing. ‘Da’ is quite different from other novels. It is a true story and is very impressive. On reading the book, my eyes were filled with tears when I was reading the chapters that related the narrator’s emotional relationship with her brother.”
He later proposed to dedicate a cultural award after the name “Da” encompassing works on Sacred Defense and hold a festival to award the best book in this genre.
Writer Sarhangi talked about the different narrations of the story and said, “It is true that most of the wars happen because of the borders, but the literature of war is without borders. Many like to know what people went through during the war and we find the answer in ‘Da’. During the Sacred Defense every one was a woman, every one was a man, every one was old, every one was young. There were no limits, no borders.”
He alluded to the film potential of the story and continued, “The cinema that goes after adaptation is mature, as seen by the fact that almost over 90% of the Oscar-winning Hollywood productions are adaptations. The time will come when our cinema will become mature and it will be able to depict the reality of war only through adaptation.”
“The grammar of war is a commercial one and people need to be encouraged during the war, but the post-war grammar is a conceptual one, and today there is no sign of war in the book. ‘Da’ is a beginning to start the wheel of war literature turning,” he explained.
Scholar Khodayar was next who gave a brief background of the previous wars Iran was involved in, and pointed to the strange feeling the book gives one in reading. “To sympathize with the narrator in every moment is very difficult. But then again, the narrator has been able to put strange, transparent feelings on paper through words. I feel that the reality of the Sacred Defense needs to be retold again and again.”
Next, narrator of the story Zahra Hosseini made a short speech and said, “When I began to relate my memoirs, my aim was only the satisfaction of God and I asked my Lord to help me on my way.”
She further added that the role of women during war was ignored and said, “If women did not resist in those years, we surely would have been defeated.”
She also talked about the interest of martyr Morteza Avini (director of “The Narration of Triumph”) on making a documentary on her recollections, “I disagreed in those years, but now if I had not retold my memoirs, I would have been disloyal to all my ideals.”
Writer Azam Hosseini also gave a brief report on the formation of the book.
The book released by Sureh-Mehr publications, is one of the publisher’s bestsellers. In the dialect of Khorramshahr “da” means “mother.”
Photo: “Da” narrator Seyyedeh Zahra Hosseini (R) receives an award from Iranian Majlis Cultural Committee member Hojjatoleslam Mohammdreza Mirtajeddini during a ceremony which was held to honor the people involved in the creation of the novel at the office of the Mehr News Agency on April 13, 2009. MNA Managing Director Parviz Esmaeili (1st from L), scholar Ebrahim Khodayar (2nd from L), and MNA director of Public Relations Office Mohsen Mohammadi are also seen in the photo. (Mehr/Sara Sassani)