Nilanshu Agarwal engages in conversation Christopher Rollason and Ludmila Volna, two Western scholars of Indian literature. The interview focuses mainly on the issues of translation and transcreation, relevance of Indian Writings in English and the changing phase of English studies in India.
Reviewing Mahasweta Devi’s “After Kurukshetra” in English translation, Sushumna Kannan says every community has stories of its heroes, origins and accomplishments; and argues that Devi’s reasoning seems somewhat alien to this and probably brings a western deconstructive impulse that necessitates a break with one tradition in order to make another.
In “Overcast,” written and translated by her, the noted Telugu fiction writer Varanasi Nagalakshmi probes the trauma of a teenaged rape victim and the psyche of her father. She interlaces this with another story to drive home the point that people’s attitude towards rape victims need to change drastically.
“Caught in the endless web of thoughts and views, they come up with wonderful verse exploring their own depths of consciousness, empathy, joy, agony and pain. True poets remain secular with a humanitarian zeal and compassionate temperament,” writes Ambika Ananth presenting works of selected poets from “Your Space” column.
