On November 16, at the Tagore Centre Auditorium in Berlin, prize-winning German writer Dr Arnold Stadler read from an anthology of German translations of poet O N V Kurup’s best-known poems.
The collection, titled ‘Ein Tropfen Licht’ (A drop of light), published by the German publishing house Draupadi Verlag, Heidelberg, contains 85 poems representing the various phases of ONV’s poetry. The poems have been translated into German by Prof Annakutty Valiamangalam K-Findeis.
So enchanted was he by the poems, Stadler said that he was ‘’tempted to make another visit to India, this time to see and study Kerala’s culture. The very word ‘Malayalam’ sounds so very poetic,’’ a statement issued by the Goethe-Zentrum Trivandrum said.
Poet O N V Kurup was also present at the function. Prof Annakutty recited some of the poems in German and ONV kept the audience spell-bound with his recitation of the same poems in Malayalam.
ONV recalled his previous visits to Germany, especially the one to the University of Bonn in 1995 where his poem on Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’ was well-received.
‘’It is through the window of English that I have had a peep into the treasures of European literature. Still English is an acquired language. Poetry occurs to me only in my language. An acquired language, through the process of translation, can build bridges of understanding between linguistic groups,’’ ONV was quoted as saying.