TEHRAN – Bolivian writer by Rodrigo Hasbún’s 2015 novel “Affections” has been published in Persian.

Cheshmeh is the publisher of the book rendered into Persian from its original edition by Ramin Nasser-Nasir.

It is a haunting novel about an unusual family’s breakdown, set in South America during the time of Che Guevara and inspired by the life of Third Reich cinematographer Hans Ertl.

Inspired by real events, “Affections” is the story of the eccentric, fascinating Ertl clan, headed by the egocentric and extraordinary Hans, once the cameraman for the Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl. 

Shortly after the end of World War II, Hans and his family flee to Bolivia to start over. There, the ever-restless Hans decides to embark on an expedition in search of the fabled lost Inca city of Paititi, enlisting two of his daughters to join him on his outlandish quest into the depths of the Amazon, with disastrous consequences.

Set against the backdrop of both optimistic and violent 1950s and 1960s, “Affections” traces the Ertls’s slow and inevitable breakdown through the various erratic trajectories of each family member: Hans’s undertakings of colossal, foolhardy projects and his subsequent spectacular failures; his daughter Monika, heir to his adventurous spirit, who joins the Bolivian Marxist guerrillas and becomes known as “Che Guevara’s avenger”; and his wife and two younger sisters left to pick up the pieces in their wake. 

In this short but powerful work, Hasbún weaves a masterfully layered tale of how a family’s voyage of discovery ends up eroding the affections that once held it together.

Photo: Front cover of the Persian translation of Rodrigo Hasbún’s novel “Affections”.

MMS/YAW