TELUGU
Literary genius
SAROJINI PREMCHAND
SARATH SAAHITYAM — Volumes 7&10: Translated by Bondhalapati Sivaramakrishna; Visalandhra Publishing House, Vijnana Bhavan, Abids, Hyderabad-500001.
Vol.7: Rs. 140; Vol.10: Rs. 120.
THE PENETRATING gaze of Sarath from the front cover catches one's attention at once. Sarathchandra Chattopadhyaya (1876-1938) is the only writer who achieved popularity in many regional languages through spontaneous and direct translations and also without any official patronage. The complete works of this literary genius are now made available to Telugu readers in 10 neatly compiled collector's volumes. Volume 10 contains 22 short stories and volume seven has two novels — Grihadahanam and, Subhada and Pujarini, a dramatised version of his novel Bhairavi.
Among all his novels Grihadahanam is the much analysed and the most debated by critics. Written in 1920 it has a well-structured storyline. In most of his other novels we find a gallery of characters spread out over a multi-layered framework.
In Grihadahanam the image of fire recurs throughout. Sarathchandra is a rebel in the sense that the man-woman relationships he depicted in his writings were beyond the conventions of society. He brought out these yearnings and heartaches hidden in the human psyche into the open.
A deep sympathy for the outcasts and the oppressed masses in society has been the greatest inspiration behind his works. A reading of these short stories substantiates this. `Abhagini swargam' is a masterpiece that can move the most frozen heart. With mesmerising artistry he draws the lives of the weak, the poor, the unsuccessful, the good-for-nothings, the fallen men and women. Hailed as a master stylist in Bengali this quality does not get lost even by indifferent translations.
A brief life-sketch would have been useful to the new generation readers. A study of the deep and abiding relationships he portrayed may be of help perhaps in the present chaos of family and societal conditions. There are some factual errors in the blurb.
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