TEHRAN – The Iranian author, translator, and scholar of Persian literature Hassan Kamshad passed away on Thursday at the age 100.

Born in Isfahan, he earned a bachelor's degree in law from the University of Tehran. After completing his studies in 1948, Kamshad was employed by the Oil Company and moved to the oil-rich region of southern Iran, ISNA reported.

In 1954, filmmaker and literary figure Ebrahim Golestan arranged for Kamshad to begin teaching Persian at the University of Cambridge. Alongside teaching, he pursued his studies and earned a Ph.D. in Persian literature from Cambridge. After graduating, he continued teaching Persian at the same university as a faculty member. He also served as a visiting professor at the University of California.

After retiring, and upon the recommendation of Iranian writer Sadeq Chubak, who had also once worked for the Oil Company, Kamshad resumed translation work. He had begun translating years before his retirement, during his early years working at the Oil Company: “When I was transferred to Masjed Soleyman, I translated ‘Citizen Tom Paine’ (written by Howard Fast), and it was published,” he once said.

The first book he took on, in his own words, “seriously,” was “What is History?” by E. H. Carr, which was published by Kharazmi Publishing House in the 1970s. About choosing the book, he had said: “I knew the author of the book. I had attended his classes in Cambridge.”

After translating books that explored the philosophy of history, Kamshad developed an interest in the history of philosophy and eventually in philosophy itself. His first book in this field was the translation of “Sophie's World” by Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder, which was published in 1996 by Niloufar Publishing House. As in other countries, the book quickly became a bestseller in Iran.

The public's enthusiasm for “Sophie's World” stemmed from the fact that it was a philosophical novel, combining narrative with philosophical content, presenting the subject in simple language for a 15-year-old girl.

He then translated “Wittgenstein’s Poker” by David Edmonds and “The Story of Philosophy” by Bryan Magee, both of which, like “Sophie's World,” explain the history of philosophy and philosophical theories in simple language.

In addition to translation, Kamshad also published several original works, in which he explored the history of modern Persian prose as well as his own life. The most important of these is the book *Founders of Modern Persian Prose*, which is the translation of his doctoral dissertation.

In this book, he lists some of the earliest translations carried out during the Qajar era and refers to several of them, such as Abdollatif Tasuji’s translation of “One Thousand and One Nights” as “very fluent and beautiful.” However, he generally believed that “the best translations have been produced during our own lifetime.”

In the field of literature, Kamshad considered Mohammad Ghazi’s translations the best, and in the realm of philosophy, he regarded Ezzatollah Fooladvand’s translations as the finest.

SS/SAB