CHENNAI: Ever stumbled upon a good English translation of a foreign language book and wondered why no one ever did that to Tamil books that you grew up reading? The Tamil Nadu Textbook And Educational Services Corporation had exactly the same in mind, when it embarked on a project to promote Tamil literature translation into English.
As a part of the first phase of this initiative, translation and publication of six Tamil books have been completed. The list comprises a range of books; the oldest being a modern translation of Thiruvalluvar’s Thirukural, and the most recent being Rajam Krishnan’s Suzhalil Midhakkum Deepangal.
When asked why Thirukural when there are already so many translations available, Mini Krishnan, the coordinating editor of the project, said, while many of the translations were scholarly or poetic, the aim of picking this translation was to shine light on the creative translation of PS Sundaram. “It’s more than being skilled in two languages. He has a creative flair in English too,” she said, adding that each published translation was picked by a handful of advisors.
Books picked based on social relevance, literary excellence
The other translated works include CS Chellappa’s Vaadivasal, T Janakiraman’s Sembaruththi, Neelapadmanabhan’s Thalaimuraikal and Ki Rajanaranan’s Karisal Kathaikal. “At a time when news is entertainment and literature has to compete with pulp fiction, two criteria guided our selections: Socially relevant themes for readers who might want to know things outside their experience and understanding, and literary excellence,” she said.
S Ramakrishnan, an influential Tamil writer who is part of the advisory committee, told Express that several books were pitched to the panel, and only some were picked. “We sift through discontinued single-edition books, important Tamil works that have not been translated, poorly-translated previous works, and translations with various editions, and pick the more relevant one,” he explained.
The aim is to create an international reach for Tamil books and increase its representation among globally-acclaimed translations, added TS Saravanan, deputy director (translation), Tamil Nadu Textbook And Educational Services Corporation. “We will publish nine books as part of the second phase in 2021. The government has allocated `5 crore for the project and we aspire to translate at least 100 Tamil books over five years,” he asserted. However, the government is not bearing the whole flag this time.
Instead, it has collaborated with several popular publishers including Oxford University Press, Penguin Random House and Harper Collins India. While the government will stay away from interfering from editorial choices on translation, it will oversee the project and procure 500 copies of each book at a discounted rate. These copies will be distributed to universities, public libraries and be awarded to dignitaries at government events.
This is among the very few initiatives of the corporation where it has joined hands with private publishers and has granted such autonomy. “The aim is to support both scholarly and popular literature,” said Saravanan. Nine books have been shortlisted for the second phase. This includes translations of essays of Uvesa, S Ramakrishnan’s Katha Vilasam, Silapaddikaram and other Sangam poetry, in the first quarter and many more to follow.