TEHRAN – Italian writer Umberto Eco’s “The Story of the Betrothed” has recently been published in Persian in Tehran.

Porteqal is the publisher of the book translated into Persian by Gholamreza Emami.

Lombardy, 1628, during a time of oppressive Spanish occupation of Northern Italy, and of the Thirty Years’ War, the young lovers Lorenzo and Lucia, both from peasant families, are planning their wedding. 

However, the villainous Don Rodrigo has designs on Lucia, and the lovers are forced to flee their village. Their dangerous journey in exile takes them through one of the most dramatic epochs in Italian history, filled with war, famine and plague – will they ever be able to find happiness together?

Eco was an Italian writer of fiction, essays, academic texts and children’s books. A professor of semiotics at the University of Bologna, Eco’s brilliant fiction is known for its playful use of language and symbols, its astonishing array of allusions and references, and clever use of puzzles and narrative inventions. 

His perceptive essays on modern culture are filled with a delightful sense of humor and irony, and his ideas on semiotics, interpretation and aesthetics have established his reputation as one of academia’s foremost thinkers.

The story first published with illustrations by Alessandro Manzoni and Marco Lorenzetti in 2010 was translated into English by Stephen Sartarelli.

Photo: A Front cover of the Persian translation of Italian writer Umberto Eco’s “The Story of the Betrothed”.

MMS/YAW