Mahshid Mirmoazzezi is the translator of the book, which has also been sold to publishers from Finland, Italy, Korea, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Turkey.
“The Weight of Words” is about the freedom that literature gives us and explores the question of how free we are in the choices we make in our lives.
Since his childhood, Simon Leyland has been fascinated by languages. In defiance of his parents, he becomes a translator and single-mindedly pursues his goal of learning all the languages spoken around the Mediterranean.
From London, he follows his wife Livia to Triest, where she has inherited a publishing house. In this city of important literary figures, he believes he has found the ideal place for his work – until a medical error throws him off course.
However, this apparent catastrophe turns out to be a turning point and an opportunity to once again completely reinvent his life.
Yet again, Pascal Mercier has succeeded in writing a philosophical novel as haunting as “The Night Train to Lisbon”.
Mercier was born in Bern in 1944 and lives in Berlin. After “Perlmanns Schweigen” and “Der Klavierstimmer”, his 2004 novel “The Night Train to Lisbon” became one of the biggest bestsellers of recent years and was translated into many languages.
It was followed by the novella “Lea” in 2007. “Das Handwerk der Freiheit” and “Eine Art zu Leben” were also published by Hanser under his real name, Peter Bieri.
Mercier was awarded the Marie Luise Kaschnitz Prize in 2006 and the Premio Grinzane Cavour for best foreign novel in Italy in 2007. In 2007, he also received the Lichtenberg Medal of the Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen.
Source:Tehran Times