TEHRAN – French writer Christian Bobin’s 1992 book “The Very Lowly: A Meditation on Francis of Assisi” (“Le Très-Bas”) has been published in Persian.Translated by Tayyebeh Hashemi, the book has been published by Afkar.Why have we come to revere Francis of Assisi, a simple thirteenth-century Italian merchant’s son, as a saint? Why has his appeal endured over eight hundred years and even expanded beyond the world of Catholicism to make him one of the most beloved religious figures of all time? This penetrating meditation on Francis’s life gently but sure-handedly cuts through every pious legend to uncover what is timeless and universally true about him. Bobin’s unexpected and thoroughly original work presents a compelling image of a man whose power is found in humility, whose radical casting aside of wealth, honor and even personal identity is inseparable from his overwhelming intimacy with God. Poetic, luminous, utterly hypnotic, “The Very Lowly” is a unique modern variation on the saint’s life that will entrance everyone, whether “religious” or—almost especially—not.Bobin, who is also a poet, received the 1993 Prix des Deux Magots for “The Very Lowly”, which was translated into English in 1997 by Michael H.

Kohn.Bobin says, “Nothing is owed to us in life, not even the innocence of a blue sky.

Great art is the art of thankfulness for the abundance of every moment.

Writing is a Chinese variant of this thankfulness, a courtesy to life in its cloak of nothing, lined with love.”Photo: Front cover of the Persian edition of Christian Bobin’s book “The Very Lowly”.MMS/YAW