Client: Penguin Classics
AD: Colin Webber

In a new English translation, Blind Owl is for readers who enjoy the fever dream of Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment and the disorienting, psychologically charged tales of Kafka and Poe. Published 85 years ago by one of the greatest Iranian writers of the twentieth century, Blind Owl tells a story of an isolated narrator with a fragile relationship with time and reality. In part one, in a haze fueled by opium and alcohol, the narrator paints the exact same scene over and over again. In the next one-page scene he is covered in blood and waits for the police to arrest him. The final part gives readers a glimpse into the grim realities that unlock the mysteries of the first part. Our translator recommends rereading part one, because, well, it’s just more disturbing that way. With a long history of being banned in Iran, and surrounded by a cult superstition similar to The Ring, Blind Owl is arguably the most famous twentieth century Persian novel and ready to read in time for the Halloween season.