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Sevasadan: Premchand
For long, the admirers of Munshi Premchand have nursed a grudge against the world for not according the master and the pioneer of Hindi short story the place that he so richly deserved among the greats of the world literature. Many have suspected that a person who so completely identified himself with the national movement in colonial India was, by the very nature of his work and personality, not destined to get the kind of translators, publishers and promoters who were instrumental in catapulting Rabindranath Tagore as a Nobel laureate. They have also believed that his being content in probing the layers of a rural consciousness that was ever up against a system steeped in usury and colonial feudalism, leading to misery and consequent depravity, has never been adequately appreciated by a world enamoured of gloss and the spiritual aura of Indian life. However, like all great creative artists, Munshi Premchand has proved that his appeal transcends time, as his admirers have always believed, and space, as they had always hoped. In recent years, there has been a vigorous and renewed interest in his work and a variety of publications have come forward to present and interpret him to the present generation. Some have current literary celebrities like Gulzar to present him to the readers. Now, to the delight of everyone, Oxford University Press has come forward in packaging and presenting him to the English-reading class and for the first time his fans cannot say that he has not been attractively packaged and promoted. The challenge before Snehal Shingavi has been to recreate an era and ethos for the English readers without destroying the spirit of the times. There are times when the desire to remain faithful to the original sentences gets the better of her otherwise lucid translation, yet she has been largely up to the task and challenge of translating in an acceptable manner. Some readers might find themselves uncomfortable with literal translations of Hindi idioms (e.g. doing good and casting it into the well) and the odd mistakes in editing, but it must be said that the translator and the publisher have done immense service to the cause of Hindi literature. Vasudha Dalmia’s scholarly introduction to Sevasadan helps the readers to understand the era in which it was written as well as in critically appreciating the characters and the plot. However, it is possible that many Indian readers may see the character of Suman independent of the charm attached to the culture and contribution of the courtesans. They may find shades of Galsworthy’s tragic characters in her obsession with Bholibai and her final lonely penance. The debate, no doubt, will go on. It must also be said that Sevasadan cannot be said to be the representative work of Premchand though it was, no doubt, a landmark in Hindi literature. Therefore, unless his other novels, especially, Gaban and Premashram, too, are as attractively produced and competently translated as Sevasadan, this effort will go in vain. Both these novels, along with many of his short stories, explode the myth that Premchand is representative only of the rural and the masses toiling inevitably towards defeat and misery. |
THE world knows Tolstoy
and Guy de Maupassant by their works translated in English. The readers
of these authors know that it is not always easy to absorb and
comprehend the Russian and the French atmosphere that is created by the
translators. It is a challenging task to remain faithful to the original
text and make the reader appreciate its not so universal idioms and
phrases. Many a translator has floundered while translating the works of
the best of the masters.