I was forwarded this review by Shyamala Raman, and I'm so she did! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your review. Years back I read what is probably Ananthamurthy's best known book, Samskara, and loved it. Alas, I have no idea who translated it which is sadly the fate of most translators who remain unknown and largely unlauded. That is changing now, and thank goodness for that. It's great that you are doing this series, giving both translators and translations their due. I'm definitely going to read Bara now.
Kamini, lovely to hear from you. And how nice to know that someone like you out in the universe appreciates what I'm trying to do. I've been feeling this for a long time, that translators are this forgotten lot who don't get credit UNLESS they're amazing writers themselves and are also known, separately, for their writing skill. It's a travesty.
Kalpana - the art of translation has long fascinated me. One of my former students translated Perumal Murugan's first novel into English; it was published by Penguin India in 2020. I have had several fascinating discussions with her about the challenges she faced translating a very particular variety of Tamil into English and that really opened my eyes to this world which has remained in the shadows for far too long. A recent Columbia University magazine had a lovely piece on translation. Happy to scan and send it to you, if you'd like. I think you'll enjoy reading it, particularly in light of this project.
Just loved the piece and got so much out of it. Thank you. I'll be sharing it as part of one of my upcoming posts so people really understand how much goes on behind each world, line, and page that are up for translation.
I was forwarded this review by Shyamala Raman, and I'm so she did! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your review. Years back I read what is probably Ananthamurthy's best known book, Samskara, and loved it. Alas, I have no idea who translated it which is sadly the fate of most translators who remain unknown and largely unlauded. That is changing now, and thank goodness for that. It's great that you are doing this series, giving both translators and translations their due. I'm definitely going to read Bara now.
Kamini, lovely to hear from you. And how nice to know that someone like you out in the universe appreciates what I'm trying to do. I've been feeling this for a long time, that translators are this forgotten lot who don't get credit UNLESS they're amazing writers themselves and are also known, separately, for their writing skill. It's a travesty.
Kalpana - the art of translation has long fascinated me. One of my former students translated Perumal Murugan's first novel into English; it was published by Penguin India in 2020. I have had several fascinating discussions with her about the challenges she faced translating a very particular variety of Tamil into English and that really opened my eyes to this world which has remained in the shadows for far too long. A recent Columbia University magazine had a lovely piece on translation. Happy to scan and send it to you, if you'd like. I think you'll enjoy reading it, particularly in light of this project.
I would love to read it, Kamini, thank you!!!!
Here's the link to the article. https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/peculiar-perils-literary-translation
Just loved the piece and got so much out of it. Thank you. I'll be sharing it as part of one of my upcoming posts so people really understand how much goes on behind each world, line, and page that are up for translation.
So glad you loved it! Look forward to your next post.