TRANSLATION
Rooted in a rural milieu
W. CHANDRAKANTH
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The translator's link to the local culture seemed to have helped her in preserving the original flavour of the stories.
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Yagnam And Other Stories; Ka Ra Mastaru, Translated by Dr. C.L.L. Jayaprada, Sahitya Akademi
THE 1960s and the 1970s were crucial to Telugu literature, particularly when one is referring to the short story format. Three major writers brought new meaning to diversity of theme with incisiveness in dealing with the subject.
Ka Ra Mastaru (Kalipatnam Ramarao) was one of the three — the other two being Munipalle B. Raju and Madhurantakam Rajaram — who enriched the Telugu story with their narrative skills.
Marxist influence
There is another aspect to his writings — the Marxist influence is evident in dealing with socio-economic transition of a feudal society to a capitalistic one. This he does with cutting edge accuracy to the benefit of even a layman. He does not make it sound ideological or technical, but evolves the theme in a simple, at times, rustic tenor.
Dr. C.L.L. Jayaprada, an associate professor in the Department of English, Andhra University, has done an admirable job of translating his stories into English. As a translator she has shown respect to the original, not transgressing into the realm of transcreation, which would lead to giving a twist to the original. It is in this process that she retains the flavour — if you read the Telugu original alongside the translated copy, your pleasure does not diminish.
Though the book, Yagnam And Other Stories, contains nine stories in all, it is "Conspiracy" (Kutra) and "Yagnam" that must be sampled. These two stories are enough to prove a translator's integrity. They deal with how the State colludes with social and economic forces to destroy the hopes and aspirations of commoners and the underprivileged. It demands a good deal of understanding of the psychological, sociological and cultural ethos of a society to incorporate the same effect as the original.
"Yagnam", which made the writer famous, is about the impact of the development module of a Gandhian character on a dalit's life. The story revolves round Appala Ramudu, a dalit who borrows Rs. 2,000 from moneylender (shavukaru in Telugu), Gopanna. As repayment is overdue, the latter drags him to village panchayat headed by Sreeramulu Naidu, a Gandhian ideologue.
Sound portrayal
Jayaprada does well in capturing the emotive plane as well the argumentative aspects of the story, which forcefully debunk the theory of gains of capitalism. How new systems brought into operation including a cooperative system and commercialisation of crops could destroy the livelihoods of the marginal people gets a sound portrayal because the translator does not assume a supreme air.
Perhaps because she sticks to the original without disturbing the narrative flow, even more challenging stories like "Conspiracy" endear themselves to the readers. It is a story in which a singular voice details the many facets of State violence. How the native rulers just replaced the Britishers to continue the exploitation, as the translator puts, "in an ironic, bantering tone in the North Coastal dialect" sounds all right in English too.
In these stories or others like "Passion" (Aarti), "Fear" (Bhayam), "Peace" (Shanti), "Death" (Chaavu), "Violence" (Himsa), "Perennial Waters" (Jeeva Dhara) or "No Room" — all of which are rooted either in the rural background or in the compulsions of the deprived classes — the author's link to the local culture seemed to have helped her in preserving the original flavour.
Set in the times of the transitional phase of the feudal economy to a capitalist one in a backward north coastal Andhra district of Srikakulam, the stories talk about the trials and tribulations of the struggling masses.
The Sahitya Akademi publication comes as a refreshing experience.
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