Friday, March 04, 2016

Daisy Rockwell explains why she translated Tamas again

Tamas 3.0: How to retranlate novel already translated twice "Tamas is one of those rare Hindi novels that has been translated not once, but twice. The first translation, by the indefatigable translator of Hindi and Urdu, Jai Ratan, was published in 1981.
The second was undertaken by Sahni himself, who came to realise there were serious problems with the Ratan translation, and published in 2001. Ratan’s translation is marked by frequent omissions, inaccuracies and outright flights of fancy. Whilst Sahni’s translation corrects these, he was unable to resist the impulse, common among authors translating their own writing, to edit and revise the original work. Consequently, changes appear mysteriously here and there when the inspiration hit him."
Earlier article by Daisy Rockwell and Jai Ratan's translation at arvindguptatoys. More on Jai Ratan's translations  and some good translations by Daisy Rockwell. Her translation does not seem currently available for purchase.

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