TEHRAN (IBNA) -- ‘In America’ (1999), an acclaimed novel by eminent American writer, ‎philosopher, and political activist Susan Sontag which in on way or another defies ‎conventional methods of storytelling has been rendered into Persian and published. ‎
This work won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. It is based on the true story of Polish actress Helena Modjeska (called Maryna Zalewska in the book), her arrival in California in 1876, and her ascendancy to American stardom. It has been translated into Persian by Niloufar Sadeghi. Borj Publishing has released ‘In America’ in 488 pages and 1500 copies.
The novel is a kaleidoscopic portrait of America on the cusp of modernity. As she did in her enormously popular novel ‘The Volcano Lover’, Susan Sontag casts a story located in the past in a fresh, provocative light to create a fictional world full of contemporary resonance.
In 1876 a group of Poles led by Maryna Zalezowska, Poland’s greatest actress, emigrate to the United States and travel to California to found a “utopian commune.” When the commune fails, Maryna stays, learns English, and―as Marina Zalenska―forges a new, even more triumphant career on the American stage, becoming a diva on par with Sara Bernhardt.
In America is about many things: a woman’s search for self-transformation; the fate of idealism; a life in the theater; the many varieties of love; and, not least of all, stories and storytelling itself. Operatic in the scope and intensity of the emotions it depicts, richly detailed and visionary in its account of America, and peopled with unforgettable characters.
Richard Lourie, comments on this novel in Washington Post Book World: “Often brave and beautiful . . . The scope of the take is vast, and there is a largesse in the telling, the sheer happiness of art. But In America is also an intimate portrait of a willful woman who, like the liner which brings her to America, trails a great wake behind her . . . In this novel about Poland and America, acting and living, transformation and respiration, Susan Sontag has indeed found a story that tells many stories with elan, intelligence and delight.”