“La calligraphie…c’est l’amour des mots.” An Interview with Atiq Rahimi

Abstract

In his recent publications, the Prix Goncourt-awarded Franco-Afghan novelist-artist Atiq Rahimi explores cross-cultural contemplations beyond linguistic signs. Across his bilingual calligraphies, inspired by European, Asian and African philosophies, Rahimi emphasizes the effects of war on marginalized groups beyond borders. In this interview, Rahimi allows insight into his lifelong practice of calligraphies. He comments not only on calligraphies published in L’Invité du miroir (Rahimi 2020) but also on callimorphies published in his latest piece Mehstî, chair des mots (Rahimi 2023), He further explicates the notion of translingualism and challenges the definition of ‘exoticism’ from his perspective as an artist in exile.

Keywords:

• Afghanistan
• calligraphy
• translingual
• Persian
• migration
• diaspora

Notes

1 Rahimi’s callimorphies are drawings inspired by Arabic and Persian calligraphy. Moved by the dynamics of “l’exile, la langue, le désir et l’absence [exile, language, desire and absence],” Rahimi’s works are situated between images and writing (Rahimi 2015, 167). While Rahimi rejects calling himself a calligrapher, he details the significance of women for callimorphies: “Oui, c’est ça un corps-lettre callimorphique. Un corps de femme” (Rahimi 2015, 134).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lida Amiri

Lida Amiri is Assistant Professor in Comparative Literary Studies at Utrecht University, where she teaches French, Persian, English, and German literary and cultural studies. Her first monograph entitled Voices of Afghan Diasporas: Translingual Aesthetics in Contemporary Literature (Edinburgh University Press, 2024) studies the poetics of Afghan diasporic literatures in English, French, German, and Persian/Dari. Across her interdisciplinary research conducted at the University of Melbourne and the University of Liverpool, Lida highlighted the impact of past and current political and social implications for marginalized communities in war zones, refugee camps, and diasporas.