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Book Review
Faiz in translation
100 POEMS: Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Tr. By Sarvat Rahman; Abhinav Publications, E-37, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016. Rs. 400.
FAIZ AHMED Faiz, acclaimed by the celebrated orientalist, Edward Said as "the greatest of contemporary Urdu poets", grew into a legend during his lifetime. Poet, journalist, translator, broadcaster and recipient of the Lenin Peace Prize, he transcended all ramifications of language, nationality or religion. No wonder, he was loved and admired by all lovers of Urdu poetry in India, Pakistan and abroad. Although he is sometimes described as a Marxist thinker, he was at heart a romanticist who wrote some of the best love poems of his time.
Not surprising that loved as both man and humanist, he had a host of translators, including Agha Shahid Ali, Shiv K. Kumar, Dawood Kamal, V.G. Kiernan, Naomi Lazard and now Sarvat Rahman. But it is often not remembered that Faiz was himself an outstanding translator who has made certain very insightful observations on the art of translation. To quote him: "Translating poetry, even when confined to a cognate language with formal and idiomatic affinities with the original compositions, is an exacting task; but this task is obviously far more formidable when the languages are as far removed from each other in cultural background as Urdu and English."
This may explain why some translators, especially those whose native tongue is not Urdu, have not been able to capture both the essence and music of his poetry. Take for instance, Kiernan, who translates the word "rahrau" as traveller, whereas the apt word in this context is passerby or wayfarer. Also both Agha Shahid Ali and the present translator have rendered the Urdu word "tanhai" as solitude and not as loneliness (Solitude incidentally is for sages, prophets and philosophers, not for a lover who has been forsaken by his/her beloved). Again, it has not been adequately remembered that Faiz had a sensitive ear for music; in fact he was a serious student of classical music.
It is a pity, therefore, that Sarvat Rahman has offered the reader a somewhat prosaic rendering of the title of one of Faiz's most famous poems "Don't ask me now beloved", whereas Shiv K. Kumar has poetically translated this line as "Ask me not for that old fervour".
Some translators have also lent themselves to the temptation of using end rhymes to make their renditions sound musical. But in doing so they have not only deviated from the original meaning but also lapsed into linguistic ambiguities. Let me quote for example from Sarvat Rahman's translation of Faiz's poem "Ai dil-e-betab Thahir" as "impatient heart, be still". In order to incorporate rhymes in this poem, she has paired such words as gushing-waking or chains-change.
In spite of certain infelicities and aberrations, both linguistic and thematic, this translator has done a commendable job, at least in selecting some of the most celebrated poems of Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
ALI ASGHAR
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