I Hope That Reaching Day

Interview with Mahdi Oqabi, the editor of war works

Written By: Mr. Sayyed Ghasem Yahoseini
Translated By: M. B. Khoshnevisan

 Just professionals understand the importance of his work. He is behind the scene. Different examples are brought for his works. Someone has been tired of life and the other one has no insurance for curing his or her eyes. On the other hand, that side of the coin is the magician of word. The words that line up consecutively and parade vs. the reader's eyes and they fascinate the reader whether it is a poem, a novel, a drama or anything else. The important thing is its edition so that it can charm the reader and so harmonious that it forces the reader to read aloud and as a result others enjoy too.
 Nobody may understand the importance of the editor's work. The reader reads an article and s it, whether it is an educational one, or a joyful, sad or exciting piece, it make no difference. He or she sees the name of the author on the front or back cover. Just professionals understand what the editor has done.
 Mr. Oqabi is one of the editors of the Artistic Section. Just since the start of those days when the news about the Iraqi imposed war was at the newspapers' headlines, he saw himself moving towards literature and culture. He was fond of literature. He was 31 who entered again the same atmosphere of war but this time along with the memories of the combatants.

Q: Mr. Oqabi, when and where were you born?

 A: On 15 of Esfand 1342 (03/05/1964), on Tree Plantation day.

Q: Did you study painting from the beginning?

 A: I got my Experimental Diploma in Khordad 1360 (June 1981) and entered the Literature and Human Sciences College of Tehran University in Farsi Literature and Language in Mehr 68 (October 1989). I had also been admitted in the Photography field of this university, but I couldn't attend the class until the end of the war. However, when I attended the class in Mehr 1367 (October 1968), I realized that marginal courses did not suit my taste. So, I again took part in Konkoor examination in 1981. I was so inexperienced that I didn't know I could change my field of education. Of course nobody guided me.

Q: What was the origin of your familiarity with the war and in what operations did you take part?

 A: It was in 31 Shahrivar (September 22) and we were painting the ceiling of our school near Azadi Square when the sound of Mehrabad Airport bombardment echoed everywhere. We drove by bike and tried to reach ourselves to the place of the incident as near as possible. We didn't believe that Iraqi jetfighters had pounded Mehrabad Airport. We asked ourselves, did anyone dare or was able to attack our Islamic country militarily. We didn't believe that a country like Iraq with many Shiite Imams had attacked us. That day we understood a little about what was happening.
 I started my conscription in Mehr 62 (September 1983) in Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and was sent voluntarily to Mohammad Rasoolollah Division in Mehr 63 (September 1984). Since that time until the end of the war, I was at front for about 36 months and took part in the operations of Badr, Valfajr 8, Karbala1, Karbala 4, Karbala 5, Beitolmoqaddas 2 and several defense operations.

Q: What memories do you have from the war?

 A: The martyrdom of my friends broke me many times. That time, I was full of sentiment. My first memory from the war is about Badr Operations. When the retreat was started, I saw that the older ones were crawling inside an irrigation canal, retuning to our own line. I did this too. I didn't walk too much that I saw our commander (Martyr Ghiathi) was shot in the head. I was shocked for a moment. But seconds later, as I was going to tell one of our commanders, Martyr Moslehi what had happened, he was also shot in the head. I was caught between two martyrs and I didn't know what to do. The next one was our machine gunner. When he saw my amazement, he said, "We must go". I asked him about the bodies. He said, if we can, we would come back, but we never came back.
  My last memory is about the time when I heard that Iran accepted the UN resolution. Of course I stay silent about this, because I want to follow my Imam. No word or sentence can describe the conditions of those days.

Q: How and from which journal did you start editing?

 A: I was in half of my studying in the university that I received a few books from the Resistance Office. I got happy that someone was working on the war memories. But on the other hand, in some pages I both saw some misspellings and sorrowed. This sensitivity involved me and Mr. Sarhangi in difficulty. Once, I collect the misspellings of a book, got the address of the Resistance Office and met Mr. Sarhangi inside a prefabricated house in the garden of the Artistic Section. They accepted me with favor and offered me a job. That day I heard the word "edition" for the first time. Then they introduced me to Mr. Behboudi to teach me for example what the point is or where a comma should be placed... and thus I became an editor.

Q: Do you believe in editing the oral history?

 A: If we are supposed to maintain the theme of dialogue, its edition has a special method. Edition has a wide spectrum from minimum to maximum. It is not difficult to answer this question what kind of edition needs each production. To my mind, any writing should be seen by other person. The task of edition is to correct misspellings, deleting the additions and maintaining the grammatical points not changing the theme of the writing.

Q: How can someone make a successful edition on a production?

 A: Recognizing what kind of edition a production needs depends on the view of the owner of that work and the experience of the editor. The important thing is the agreement of these two.

Q: Please explain more about editing and its various kinds.

 A: Edition has different kinds: linguistic, scientific, content, literary, and technical. In countries which look at edition in an expertise manner, each of the above mentioned cases is done by one person. But in our country, one person is expected to do all of these. On the other hand, the editor has to accept any offer in order to have more income; memory, novel, poem, references, and scientific books. So an editor should know about each of these things a little. However, the edition of each book teaches the editor something. So naturally after the edition of ten books, the editor finds an expertise in this kind of writing, on the condition that he or she has a good relation with the author. Some books just need technical edition, some, other kinds of editing. Therefore, when an Iranian editor edits a text, sometimes he or she reviews each word of the text several times to decide either to correct it or to not. And this is a difficult task that others do not pay attention to it.
 That is why I have sometimes accepted an offer without expertise studies and have been successful too. Sometimes, I might have faced with problem, but I have continued my task with the help of the author. So we should not fear and my different works represent this.

Q: Have your war memories helped your editions?

 A: It has been effective. That I knew that such and such mountain was not seized in such and such operation and the author of the memory has written conversely has made me more successful in my job. This means that if an architecture book is given to me for editing and I have already studied in this field, no doubt, I would be more successful. But to me, without knowing anything about a subject, it is possible to edit that text too. I don't know anything about music but its seven notes, but I have edited several books in this field successfully. In fact, sometimes the content of work is not related to the editor and the author guarantees its verity or untruth. But it is also crystal clear that the editor would be better to be an expert about the content of a text. It means that we should have musician editor, novel writer editor, architecture editor or on the contrary editor musician, editor novel writer, and editor architecture.

Q: Have you ever needed a geographical map?

 A: I have not so far edited a geographical map and I don't know anything about it. But if you mean having necessary accessories before its beginning, I gave your answer in the previous question. However, in editing war memories, geography plays an important role. I myself have referred several times to geographical maps, operational maps and of course the experience of experts.

Q: Tell us about the difficulties and problems of your work.

 A: ungratefulness, ingratitude, not having enough income and the increase of inexperienced editors who think that they just need a pencil and an eraser. Some editors edit with pen. Another problem is that the name of editor is not registered in the book's identity card in many publishing houses. The job is unknown even among the educated people.

Q: Why hasn't your name been registered in the books you have edited?

 A: My name has not been registered in about four fifth of the books that I have edited. You should ask this reason from the publishers. If you don't know the name of the publishers, I can tell you. State publishers do this more. Once I asked someone who had given a book for edition to me why the editor's name is not registered, he said the Council of the agency has decided not to register the editor's name in the book's identity card. I asked him the reason. He answered that the editor's inexperience might become clear later.

Q: Do war editors seek to launch a group?

 A: I don't know. We distance so much from each other that I don't know even the name of a war editor, I mean someone who is an editor and have edited at least a war production. I don't say that there is no editor; I say I don't know them and this is because of the cooperation method that exists among press people and of course because of the weak public relation.

Q: What contradiction does your level of income have with the hardship of your job?

 A: If the income was enough, I didn't do every kind of edition. This job is not permanent. Its wage is not clear and the same too. Sometimes we resign ourselves to exploitation and misuse. Isn't it an exploitation when I accept my name not to be registered in the book? Sometimes, I have edited a book for an Islamic or revolutionary publishing house for one Toman per word while the wage of its edition had been at least three Tomans per word. As I said before, sometimes the edition of a book means five kinds of edition simultaneously. Does the spelling is correct or not? Is it in accordance with grammatical points? Does it have a content problem? Does it a have more fluent equivalent? Now you can judge, am I paid enough? This is a mind not physical hardship. Sometimes I can't edit a few pages more in one day. Sometimes, a work depresses me so much that I can't edit for several days. Such wastes are not clear. This job fully empties my energy.

Q: Has a special method ever been released for editing war texts?

 A: No, I don't know and I myself have no special method.

Q: Do you have any program to teach the techniques of edition?

 A: I cannot say about the techniques but I am supposed to transfer my experiences just as they are in mind.

Q: In addition to war works, in what other fields have you worked?

 A: In addition to war memories, I've edited books in the fields of management, productivity management, architecture, music, various academic theoretical discussions and some others that I don’t remember including the people's diaries and …

Q: Which institutes have you so far worked with?

 A: In the Artistic Section with the Resistance and Research Office, in the Oppressed Foundation with Productivity Management, Kanoon Parvaresh Fekri, Nistan magazine, the Center for Islamic Revolution documents, different private publishing houses and…

Q: How do you evaluate editing through Internet?

 A: As I've heard, editing in the Internet (Persian websites and weblogs) is very low and just about 0.5 percent. The main reason is the context of this media. However, the way of boosting this service in the internet is clear: more presence of those who are bound to introduce the edited works as well as the indirect training. I also intend to enter this path but I don't know how much I can succeed.

Q: Do you have anything else to say as an editor?

 A; There are lots of things that should be said. Some shouldn't be said. The thing that I should say is that I only earn my living through editing and have no job. Today, I have become tired. I have seen injustice, my right has been disregarded. Today I prefer to drive a car in the streets instead of editing.
 I owe the memories of the war. On the other hand, I have been able to earn my petty living through edition. By editing these books, I ponder that the war or the sacred defense has not finished yet and I am in the front line or at least behind it. Some works make me cry. I remember the generosities and heroic actions of those days. Maybe the reason that I have become tired is that it is a long time I have not edited a war text.
I am sure that one day the books that are obsolete at present will soon attract the attention of the world's elite.