CHENNAI: Tamizh mannukku uritha mann vasanai, makkal, unarvugal — the land, its folks, their feelings; these are the elements that will find a representation in Aleph Book Company’s The Greatest Tamil Stories Ever Told. Thirty short stories in translation, edited and compiled by the effervescent editor and translator Mini Krishnan, and the enterprising writer and dance scholar Sujatha Vijayaraghavan. The book that was nearly two years in the making brings together the works of some of the best writers in the territory — from Puthamai Pithan and Ahsokamitran to Meeran, Poomani and Bama; all in one easy-to-consume volume of cultural and social identity(ies).“Tamil fiction, Tamil culture and Tamil films have been attracting a lot of admiration outside the linguistic region. Writers traditional and counter-cultural/subaltern are both famous and popular. So, why not an anthology of Tamil writers?” begins Mini Krishnan. And looks like the people at Aleph agreed.
It only seemed like the next perfect addition to The Greatest Stories Ever Told, says Aienla Ozukum of Aleph, “The title is not an exaggeration because each book in the series contains a selection of the very best modern short fiction from the languages in question. If you consider the fact that the modern short story in India in major languages only originated in the 19th century, you can then see how the title is justified.” And so Mini was called in to edit the stories, and she who suggested that “the prime editor be someone immersed in fiction and far better informed than I (she cannot read Tamil), and that I would, in turn, polish the translations, and provide ‘ignorance’ ballast!”
This is where Sujatha stepped in, bringing to the table the fruitful results of her dive into a treasure trove of Tamil short stories for a different project. She had coincidentally picked this subject for the annual thematic festival of her Bharatanatyam company, Natyangam, 78 years ago. “A few of us on the committee were very interested in Tamil short stories. We finally picked 10 for representation in dance, introducing them on the back drop of instrumental music and using parallels in puranam for the songs. This was very well received. I read over 800 stories and was disappointed that we couldn’t use some for dance. But, I was able to bring them to this collection,” she recounts.
Not that it made the task of selection any easier. Sujatha began with a list of writers she wanted to add to the book. Then, she picked from translations of their work that were already available; others were commissioned afresh through the delightful collaboration with Malini Seshadri. “The stories were selected from a diverse plane. After all, stories come from all places. Besides, I wanted stories that showed the Tamizh penn — of our mothers and grandmothers, the lives they had, their tenacity and more. We have a good sense of humour and it’s evident in the works of Devan, Kalki, SVV and the likes. Then, we were able to handle everything with humour — siriche samalikka mudinchi iruku. I wanted that to reflect here,” she elaborates.
Terming it one of the most difficult assignments she’s handled (especially given that she had worked extensively with a number of writers whose work made it to the book), Mini Krishnan had her own metrics for the selection. “Quality and length of stories played a big role in our choice and, of course, their themes. Diversity of writerly backgrounds, cultural preferences and subjects, too, were boxes we had to tick. Then, we kept a beady eye on the historical importance of our list writers. One or two writers had to be set aside because their copyright holders would not grant permission. One or two writers were included on the insistence of the publishers,” she explains.
The result of this long process is that we have Subramania Bharati’s The Story of a Crow Learning Prosody (translated by P Raja), R Chudamani’s My Name is Madhavan (Praba Sridevan), S Thenmozhi’s Paychi Tree (Malini Seshadri) and Imayam’s The Binding Vow (Lakshmi Holmström) between one set of covers.
For Mini, who has dedicated her entire career to publishing the translations of some of the best literature in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada (among others), this was a new level of recognition for translated literature. “After many years of being viewed as playing a minor role, finally, translation has risen to occupy its true position as pivotal in enriching and empowering language groups. Where would we be without Tamil-to-English translators like Malini Seshadri, Lakshmi Holmström and Vasantha Surya! Not only is translation central to the dynamics of cultural and literary studies but some of our greatest poets and writers have themselves been translators. Though this is a collection of just 30 stories, we hope it opens a few windows,” she says.
As with the past books in this series, the three women hope that this would cater to readers who have Tamil as their mother tongue but cannot or are hard put to read in Tamil. What Aienla has gathered from the Bengali and Urdu books in the series is that “a great number of readers who have Bengali or Urdu as their mother tongue and are bilingual have bought these books so that they are better acquainted with their own culture. We expect this to be true of this book as well; besides (catering to) readers who are not Tamil.”
Seconding that, Mini points out that the biggest sale of translations (of Indian writers) is primarily into that section of the population that is comfortable in their mother-tongues and their culture but whose English-medium schooling deprived them of reading their native languages. Going one step further, Sujatha expresses hope in this book influencing young readers to sample the original works. “We have rich literature; this book is a way to tell them about it and get them to read it. Say they read Kalki or Sujatha in English, they might be inclined to read it in Tamil itself. There is room for that change. Or at least, it will inspire them to seek out more writers like them. So, this is a bridge; not just for the language but for the culture that comes with it,” she points out.
What better than an anthology — that Mini likens to an inviting banquet — to present these opportunities. “Informed readers will stay on till the end of the feast and perhaps return for seconds. Strangers to the culture may not even remember the names of the writers but will close the book with a sense of having travelled through towns and markets, eavesdropped on family situations and conflicts and watched a wedding or a funeral,” she muses.
The book is on Flipkart and Amazon