His standards were exacting; and conscious, with his own
phenomenal memory, of the advantages of storing knowledge in the mind, he required his
students to combine analytical work with some learning by heart, including passages
from Old Persian inscriptions.
Ehsan Yarshater found time nevertheless to embark on the first of his many
field trips to study dialects; and these were to be the most enjoyable of
this many scholarly undertakings, combining as they did the intellectual
pleasure of discovery with the keen delight of travel to remote parts of
Iran and the exploration of village life and traditions. Such travel
involved, however, a considerable measure of physical hardship and hours
of exacting work, during which his informants were apt to flag long before
he wished to release them. In 1956 the Societé de la dialectologie
iranienne was founded, with G. Redard, G. Morgenstierne and E. Benveniste
as active members; and Ehsan Yarshater, as vice-president, was made
responsible for supervising the recording of dialects throughout Iran.
This blend of teaching, administrative duties and strenuous research would
for most scholars have made up a full working life; but during his years
in England Ehsan Yarshater had been forming plans to fill gaps which he
had come to perceive in the cultural life of Iran; and in 1954 he took the
major step of founding the Bong›h-e Tarjoma va Nashr-e Ket›b (Institute
for the Translation and Publication of Books) .
Under his direction this
was to make a massive contribution in the following decades to the
intellectual life of the nation. Its primary aim was to have foreign
works of recognized worth translated into Persian by scholars of repute,
the translations to be carefully edited and accurately printed. In the
long run it was hoped that the venture would be largely self-supporting,
but Ehsan Yarshater obtained initial funding from the Crown Properties.
This was the first instance of his ability, as a practical visionary and
skilful, patient diplomat, to obtain financial support for a nobly
conceived plan. The series of translations was inaugurated with five
books published simultaneously in 1955, and others followed in rapid
succession, to be swiftly bought up by an appreciative readership.
Although his own work lay in higher education, Ehsan Yarshater was deeply
concerned with the intellectual development of children; and a year later
he inaugurated three series of works for different age groups among the
young, some of them translations, some original writings. These too were
eagerly acquired.
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