Translations of regional Indian literature

New Delhi, Mar 18: Not written with an eye on the market or with the zeal to make money, regional literature brings forth a form of writing that is perhaps the most authentic form, says translator Arunava Sinha.

"They (regional writers) don't care for technique, they haven't got Master of Fine Art degrees, they don't care for impressing anyone and they don't write for a western market. It is perhaps full of flaws, angularity and full of strange construction," says Sinha who translates Bengali work from India and Bangladesh into English.

Speaking at a session titled 'Why translations of regional Indian literature are the best reads?', organised here recently by Readomania, which calls itself a literary social network, Sinha chalks out the trajectory and growth of the Bengali novel to show the diversity and variety that can be found in regional literature.

By analysing the themes, issues and language form of the first Bengali novel Durgeshnandini by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee to the works of Rabindranath Tagore, Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay to the modern day writings of Sunil Gangopadhyaya, Sinha reflects on the the journey traversed by Bengali literature.

PTI