Two (more) untranslated Hindi Books
I don't get sentimental about great works being left untranslated any more. As it happens, there are too many of them.
शह और मात
I did not find any reviews of this book on the web. That is a shame, because there were some pieces of it that I would have liked to understand better. More importantly, it is a pity, because surely this is a work that deserved more attention.
The title could perhaps translate into "Sujata's Diary - the Checkmate". Perhaps, because it has not been translated. Written in 1959 and set in Mumbai, the book covers its setting in a perfunctory kind of way, though it does touch upon the characters' thoughts on their "cowbelt" origins. The narrative device is that the author has held on to a lady friend's diary, and made a manuscript out of it after her death. Largely because of this device, the work is centred around the thoughts of a college girl who is an emerging writer and actress, and her interactions with an established male writer who is an known to be a ladies man and a "Princess" who gives her an award for her acting in a play. That the narrator, Sujata, and the established writer, Uday, are both recovering from unrequited love makes things more interesting.
I found two things especially inspiring. First, the author's ability to "get into to mind" of a girl writing a diary. Second, his skill in keeping the reader engaged in this slow-burning story with a couple of twists in the end. The minutiae of the diary's entries - for example, passages about Sujata's love playing with her fingers and making them snap, or the play of shadows when two characters walk under street lamps - give the book a unique voice.
नाच्यौ बहुत गोपाल
One of the great books of all time. It is a pity that like many others, this one will not get the audience it deserves because it does not seem to have been translated into English, or any other language, from the original Hindi. I did come across this academic article that discusses some aspects of translating the book, but I don't see any translations available.
Written in 1978, and providing some commentary on the "emergency" period of modern India, the main narrative of the book is set in the 1930s. The protagonist is a foul-mouthed saintly woman whose circumstances led her to marry into the caste of mahtars, people who carry human excrement away from city homes. The woman, Nirguniya, is an truly outstanding fictional character.
Amritlal Nagar obviously spent much time researching his subject, and he has created a masterpiece that speaks for the the underdogs in a cruel society. What makes this a classic is Nagar's voice - never dramatising, while cataloging evil and cruelty with the eye of an observer with a conscience.
शह और मात
I did not find any reviews of this book on the web. That is a shame, because there were some pieces of it that I would have liked to understand better. More importantly, it is a pity, because surely this is a work that deserved more attention.
The title could perhaps translate into "Sujata's Diary - the Checkmate". Perhaps, because it has not been translated. Written in 1959 and set in Mumbai, the book covers its setting in a perfunctory kind of way, though it does touch upon the characters' thoughts on their "cowbelt" origins. The narrative device is that the author has held on to a lady friend's diary, and made a manuscript out of it after her death. Largely because of this device, the work is centred around the thoughts of a college girl who is an emerging writer and actress, and her interactions with an established male writer who is an known to be a ladies man and a "Princess" who gives her an award for her acting in a play. That the narrator, Sujata, and the established writer, Uday, are both recovering from unrequited love makes things more interesting.
I found two things especially inspiring. First, the author's ability to "get into to mind" of a girl writing a diary. Second, his skill in keeping the reader engaged in this slow-burning story with a couple of twists in the end. The minutiae of the diary's entries - for example, passages about Sujata's love playing with her fingers and making them snap, or the play of shadows when two characters walk under street lamps - give the book a unique voice.
नाच्यौ बहुत गोपाल
One of the great books of all time. It is a pity that like many others, this one will not get the audience it deserves because it does not seem to have been translated into English, or any other language, from the original Hindi. I did come across this academic article that discusses some aspects of translating the book, but I don't see any translations available.
Written in 1978, and providing some commentary on the "emergency" period of modern India, the main narrative of the book is set in the 1930s. The protagonist is a foul-mouthed saintly woman whose circumstances led her to marry into the caste of mahtars, people who carry human excrement away from city homes. The woman, Nirguniya, is an truly outstanding fictional character.
Amritlal Nagar obviously spent much time researching his subject, and he has created a masterpiece that speaks for the the underdogs in a cruel society. What makes this a classic is Nagar's voice - never dramatising, while cataloging evil and cruelty with the eye of an observer with a conscience.
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