To take modern Indian writing forward, regional languages need visibility by being cross-translated across language, said filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan at the LIC Gateway Litfest.
He was chairing sessions on non-Bollywood Indian cinema and on paths forward for Indian literature at the LitFest. “I grew up reading the Malayalam translations of major Bengali works, but Malayalam literature didn’t get translated into the Bengali language. Major theatre Marathi works like Sakharam Binder have been staged in Malayalam, but major Malayalam works have not been translated into Marathi. This has sadly reduced the mass appeal of regional language literary works,” he said. In his view, without greater visibility of existing literature across languages, the way forward for Indian literature is incomplete.
“The Indo-English writer is a subtle and complex person, perhaps different from other traditions,” said Anju Makhija, poet, translator and columnist, on Sunday. She was on the panel on Indian poetry. Discussing the role of history and modernity in shaping today’s Indian poets, she said that in using both English and roots of one’s past, the Indo-English writer has a very detailed list of influences to draw from. “When I was in boarding school, I studied Eliot, and Blake, as everyone does. But upon picking up Sindhi, which I had almost forgotten, and then learning to translate Sindhi poetry, including the great 16th century poet Shah Abdul Latif’s work I added to my understanding in a much deeper way. Today, both Western writers and Indian traditions are equally important. We need to use influences in a positive way. I believe in the expression ‘tradition should be a bond, not a bondage.’”
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Along with tradition versus modernity, and English versus regional languages, the panel also touched upon the topic of how Indian readers’ habits today are changing. In the view of poet, translator and teacher Shafi Shauq, “Youngsters just do not want to read Proust and Dostoevsky today. In my childhood, we only half-finished these books but at least we tried to read them. In my 35 years of teaching, I have not found this same interest in any student. Today, youngsters read a lot on the train, on flights, but they read anything regardless of value.”
Young poets like Mihir Chitre, who has published extensively on online literary portals and released a collection —‘Hyphenated,’ published by Sahitya Akademi — also spoke about trying to forge a new intellectual tradition in India. Mr. Chitre’s poems are intrinsically tied with the city of Mumbai and combine history and modernity in a staccato, measured style. “When I write, I cannot think about whether I am contributing to a tradition because that will affect my writing. Writing has to be spontaneous and honest. But if by doing this I contribute to a new tradition, that is extremely rewarding,” he said.