After reading an anthology, 1947 Santoshabad Passenger and Other stories, 24 representative Telugu short stories translated into English by eminent journalist and teacher of media studies Dasu Krishnamoorty and his talented daughter Tamraparni Dasu, one would get into a dilemma, not the Hamletian kind but that of Alfred Prufrock’s, “How should I presume, And how should I begin.” Several years ago, when a scribe asked well-known novelist and professor of English UR Ananthamurthy, why he had asked AK Ramanujam to translate Samskara into English, though he could have done it himself, pat came the reply, “He is a better translator.” The same Ananthamurthy, again many years ago at a UGC-organised seminar on Contemporary Indian Literature, complained that not much was known about the happenings in the Telugu literature, as there was a dearth of English translations of Telugu works.
With talented English teachers like Alladi Uma, Sridhar, Vijayasree, T Vijaykumar, Jayalakshmi, Venkata Rao, GK Subbarayudu and CLL Jayaprada emerging to join the likes of Velcheru Narayana Rao, Ranga Rao and SS Prabhakara Rao, the scenario of translations, from Telugu to English, has undergone a significant change and the void seems to be filling up.
The father and daughter team of Krishnamoorty and Tamraparni are the latest to emerge to take Telugu literature to readers of English, including our own Telugu yuppies who cannot read their mother tongue, besides introducing the richness of Telugu short story to global audience.
Full report here Express Buzz
No comments:
Post a Comment