Paris hosts meeting on Sadi, Victor Hugo

TEHRAN - (Iranart) A number of Iranian and French scholars gathered for a one-day meeting in Paris on Friday to discuss affinities between the Persian poet Sadi (C. 1213-1291) and French poet and novelist Victor Hugo (1802-1885)

Organized by the Hugo Group, a center re-founded in 1975 at the Paris-Diderot University (Paris 7), the meeting was held at the Capital 8 Conference Center, the Hugo Group announced on its website.

Head of the Hugo Group Claude Millet reviewed the influence of the literature of the East and the works by Sadi on Hugo and said that the literary works by Hugo indicate that the East has had a special status in the thoughts of the French romantic writer.

She said that Hugo believed that human thoughts in works by the poets from the Orient especially Sadi indicate their love and attention to the exaltation of the human being.

The director of the Center for the Study of Sadi, Kurosh Kamali Sarvestani, also attending the meeting, said, “Hugo was only 27 when he published his collection of poems ‘Les Orientales’.”

“Hugo believed that everything is interim, and the East has lost its glory and the West will also join the East, therefore the best thing is what Sadi did. He created Gulistan,” Sarvestani said.

“What can be highlighted as the commonalities between Sadi and Hugo is the man and all his wishes and dreams. And these two wise men have tried to show the way for new achievements for mankind in their works,” he explained. 

Iranian scholar Hossein Beik-Baghban from the University of Strasbourg talked about Sadi’s humanism and said, “Sadi is the poet and teacher of Iranians. He was born in Shiraz and created his works in his city. His Gulistan and Bustan show Sadi’s interest in humanity.”

Francis Richard, a French researcher on Islamic-Iranian arts, also talked about the Sadi manuscripts preserved in the libraries of France.

Iranian Ambassador Ahmad Jalali and Cultural Attaché Jamal Kamyad were also among the participants in the meeting.