Since my mission here is not to review the film, but to translate the book, it is clear that Vijayaraghavan’s efforts go beyond what the linear and somewhat simple story of the film can tell.
#Tamil romantic novels movie#
The viewing time was three and a half hours, and I had to watch the entire movie in three to four episodes. Created in 1960, the black-and-white features feature Gemini Ganesan and Vijanti Mara, boasting impressive casts of Vikraman and Kundabai, respectively. To better understand this book, this reviewer was fortunate enough to come across the Tamil movie version of Parthiban Kanavu on YouTube. The story is embedded, everything is well captured. Behind the story, which includes a long-standing rivalry between the Pallava and Chola dynasties, is a romantic subplot, conflict, court plot, irony, and amazing featuring the main male and female protagonists of a rival clan. The English version is long and comes in just under 400 pages, but it is easy to understand even for those who do not know the original. From that point of view, Nandini Villayaragavan did a good job. The nice thing about translating a Tamil masterpiece like Parthiban Kanavu into English is that, by definition, it’s primarily aimed at people who aren’t familiar with Tamil. “I think this book was much better.” So in translation. With a few exceptions, people tend to go back to tired clichés. Critics hang carp on the carp just as a famous book is rendered in a movie. As cultural commentator Seetha Ravi states on the cover of the jacket, “The job of a translator is often grateful and punishable.” In particular, he is already familiar with the original version of the vernacular.
Local idioms, unique expressions and sayings in Tamil for stories and conversations, even those familiar to us like English, were very difficult to express in a foreign language. Her previous translation of Pony in Cervan, the first part of Canave, would have firmly supported her. Nandini Vijayaraghavan faced many challenges in undertaking the tedious task of translating Parthiban Kanavu into English (with other early efforts). Due to the tremendous popularity of this writer, the Government of India released stamps in 1999 in honor of him. This will be added to some social-themed novels written by Kalki Krishnamurthy during that period. Parthiban Kanavu was followed by the similarly popular Sivkamiyin Sabadham and Ponniyin Selvan-all released between 19, at the beginning of the trilogy of authors of the great Tamil novels of the historic genre. In that sense, the recent release of the English translation of Kalki Krishnamurthy’s acclaimed novel Parthiban Kanavu (Parthiban’s Dream - Ratna Books, Rs.599) is a welcome addition. The excellent English translators of these novels are introduced in small print, and their unique skill is, by design, “born to blush the invisible.” In multilingual India, the English translation of a good literary work may be considered an ongoing task in terms of output and quality. We remember Kafka’s transformation as an allegorical masterpiece, Kafka’s “Gentile” as a definitive study of Dostoevsky’s moral dilemma, alienation and a gloomy contemplation of crime and punishment.
Those who read the English translations of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Kafka, Camus, Proust, Sartre, and many other legendary non-English writers have a faint clue as to who translated these great writers. This is considered by literary experts to be one of her best efforts.
Lesser known is the fact that she translated Dante’s narrative poem Divine Comedy. Sayers was best known for her knowledgeable detective novel featuring Sir Peter Wimsey as her aristocratic detective. The omission has been fixed in later versions. The first English expression did not give credit to the translator. The original version was French and became world famous after the English translation was announced. Georges Simenon, the French writer of the beloved Detective Maigret series, wrote 75 prolific Maigret novels between 19.