Himalayan Voices: An Introduction To Modern Nepali Literature

Voices from Asia #2

by Michael James Hutt

Book Summary of Himalayan Voices:An Introduction To Modern Nepali Literature Karl Marx and Sri aurobindo with whose ideas this book is mainly concerned, through belong to two different culturesand ages, the affinity of their chosen themes is very instructive. This book will be of interest to social scientists, philosophers and the reading public.

333 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a brief overview of Modern Nepali Literature, however since it was first published in 1991 the literature in this book might not be considered modern in 2022 (unless modern is a literary term and not a chronological term). It is probably the most extensive collection--in one book--of modern Nepali literature translated into English (but I could be wrong). The collection is comprised of poetry and short stories.

Interestingly, Michael J. Hutt, the editor and translator of this collection, writes: “Poetry is the richest genre of twentieth-century Nepali literature. […] almost every Nepali writer composes poetry.”

Poets included in this collection of translations:
Lekhnath Paudyel
Balkrishna Sama
Lakshmiprasad Devkota
Siddhicharan Shreshtha
Kedar Man Vyathit
Gopalprasad Rimal
Mohan Koirala
Bairagi Kainla
Parijat
Bhupi Sherchan
Banira Giri
Bhairava Aryal
Haribhakta Katuval
Ishwar Ballabh
Hem Hamal
Krishnabhushan Bal
Bimal Nibha
Ashesh Malla
Minbahadur Bishta
Avinash Shreshtha
Bishwabimohan Shreshtha

Perhaps one of the reasons I resonate with this poetry is the attention to suffering. A number of these poets were imprisoned and censored during the years the Ranas ruled Nepal. This poetry is generally not superficial even when it uses humor.

Lakshmiprasad Devkota’s poem “Pagal” or “Mad” is a good example:

“Surely my friend, I am mad,
That’s exactly what I am!
I see sounds,
Hear sights,
Taste smells,
I touch things thinner than air,
Things whose existence the world denies,
Things whose shapes the world does not know.
[…]
You are clever, and wordy,
Your calculations exact and correct forever,
But take one from one in my arithmetic,
And you are still left with one.
You use five senses, but I have six,
You have a brain, my friend,
But I have a heart.”

I also love Siddhicharan Shreshtha’s poetry in here. Perhaps especially his poem to Lakshmiprasad when one of Lakshmiprasad’s sons died at a young age:

Title: “Kavi Devkotalai” or “To the Poet Devkota”

“You are a wounded bird,
What can I say as your injuries grow?
Perhaps this world still needs to snatch your very soul.
Your songs you have sung,
Squeezing your heart, shedding your blood,
Does this world heed only ambition?
[…]
Dance, and tread down the ashes
Of burned-out dreams and rotten hopes,
Bring thousands to life, create thousands more,
Survive even sorrow.
[…]
Go, make proclamations
To put a stop to tears and sighs,
Nation-maker, poet,
You have sons throughout this land.
Go now, arise, for others may die,
Alas, how can they live?”

There’s a line in this poem where Siddhicharan says to Devkota “shed no tears” over his dead son. If Siddhicharan was still alive I would want to ask him why he wrote those words to Devkota? What did he mean? In context, Siddhicharan seems to be saying that the world does not care about Devkota’s tears, that the world will pretend to care, but it will only be lying. But, still, even if the world does not care about our tears, our suffering, I think we should still weep. Let the world condemn itself for its indifference, we will shed our tears because we still love (even if we only shed our tears in private). Anyway, I wish I could ask Siddhicharan about that line.

In the second half of the book, Michael Hutt introduces the reader to twentieth-century Nepali short stories. Hutt writes, “In its present form, the Nepali short story is only half a century old.” Remember, Hutt wrote this in the late 80s/early 90s, so the short story form has been around a bit longer now in Nepal. Even so, Hutt writes that the short story form in Nepal “has developed a surprisingly high degree of sophistication within a relatively short space of time…” In terms of style, Hutt writes that most Nepali short story literature has “the fundamental quality” of Realism. As I was reading, I thought a lot of the short stories Hutt translates here resemble Russian Realism, so Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Many of these stories are memorable and are filled with psychological insights, social commentary, humor, compassion, and emotion. It's hard to choose which stories I enjoy the most, but I really do like "Maujang Babusahebko Kot." Funny!

The writers with short stories in this collection are:
Guruprasad Mainali
Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala
Bhavani Bhikshu
Shivkumar Rai
Daulat Bikram Bishtha
Bijay Malla
Ramesh Bikal
Shankar Lamichhane
Indra Bahadur Rai
Poshan Pande
Tarini Prasad Koirala
Prema Shah
Parashu Pradhan
Dhruba Chandra Gautam
Manu Brajaki
Kishor Pahadi

[Lolilu]

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