I had given two reasons why I decided to translate stories from Malayalam to English--1)By taking world literature courses I had realized that we can learn a great deal about another culture by reading their literature and 2) The enjoyable experience I had in translating for the UNESCO. There was a third reason, may be the most important reason. In 1985 I was asked to present a paper on "Women's Contribution to Malayalam Literature" at the Second World Malayalam Conference held in Washington, DC "because there is no one else to do it." Preparing that paper was the first opportunity I had to read a good amount of Malayalam literature seriously. That experience made me realize for the first time, the beauty of the language and how much one might learn about the culture and life in Kerala through the varied themes the authors presented.
"Daughters of Kerala" is my first solo translation project. In my inexperienced way, I had decided that the main criterion for selecting stories would be that the book would include atories about all groups of people in Kerala and the book IS all inclusive.
Marie Varghese in her review of the book said, "One of the great strengths of the anyhology comes from the variety of voices that are featured in these stories. These stories represent the experiences of women from a variety of economic backgrounds." All marital status-married, divorced, unmarried-and the three main religious groups--Hindus, Muslims and Christians--are also represented. This may be one reason why everyone who reads the book will identify with one story or other. The Dean of Santa Monica College in California expressed that point saying, "We start to read the book to transport ourselves to another place , yet come to find ourselves in these stories."
The stories selected for the book justify translation not only for the skills of their authors, but also for the fact that many of them speak to social issues that remain relevant even today.
I will start with the stories next Monday and plan to post them on Mondays and Thursdays.
I can say I posted on Thursday. It is 11:59 PM
I'm glad to have visited your blog, Achamma. I'm even more excited to read your book.
ReplyDeleteHi Achamma,
ReplyDeleteIt looks like your blog is up and running. Welcome aboard.
Glad to see you're up and running! My interest has always been in women's issues so your blog will be very interesting to me. Looking forward to receiving your book that I ordered.
ReplyDeleteAchamma,
ReplyDeleteYou've got it! I am so proud of you.
YOU DID IT! And your blog is going to be so interesting.
Margo
A great deal has changed for women in Kerala. Today if a rich man has a child out of wedlock the mother or child can go to court to get the child's share of the father's wealth. Most instances are hushed up with payments out of court. What Carol says is true, the thinking in the West is that ideas like those in "Feminine Mystique" started in the West. But there are many little known women who wrote about those ideas long before "Feminine Mystique." Againn, that's why I wanted to translate rather than write. Achamma Chandersekaran
ReplyDeleteMay 29, 2011 1:57 PM