How translations shape global literature!

On 24th September 1887, when Rabindranath Tagore wrote the poem Tumi Shondhar Meghomala (loosely translated as Flakes of Dust Cloud), little did he know that its journey would later become a fascinating case study. The poem was eventually published in 1914 as the 30th piece in his anthology Gitimalya, after Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. However, when Pablo Neruda compiled his Spanish anthology Veinte Poemas de Amory Una Canción Desesperada in 1924, he included a translation of this very poem, adapting it from Tagore’s own English version.

The anthology became a massive hit, leading to further translations into English, offering readers a second version of the poem in Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. From there, the poem was translated into many other languages, including Bengali. However, the Bengali translators, assuming that the poem had originally been written in English for Neruda’s anthology, translated it back into Bengali—creating a Bengali version of Tagore’s original Bengali poem.

In this way, the poem made a full circle. Whether the English translation of the poem from the Spanish version is better than Tagore’s original English translation or not, this journey of translation reveals something deeper: how translation itself can be an odyssey. This odyssey of translation shapes world literature, making it a dynamic, ever-evolving entity.

Making of World Classics

The evolution of War and Peace from a story rooted in Russian history to becoming a global literary masterpiece is just an example of the dynamism translation brings to world literature. The impact of the Napoleonic Wars on Russian society, which seemed initially to speak only to Russians, began to feel relevant to global readers who could apply the themes to their own histories, struggles, and wars.

Closer to home in India, we have Abhigyanam Shakuntalam and Meghadootam among others in drama, and Bharata’s Natyashastra in dramaturgy. Any discussion on dramatic literature anywhere in the world cannot but mention these names. But these would have remained obscure in Sanskrit unless people like Max Muller or William Jones had not translated them into German and English respectively. Similarly, Dara Shikoh’s translations of the Upanishads and Akbar’s translations of the Ramayana and Mahabharata contributed to the creation of a syncretic literature, which, in turn, fostered an inclusive cultural and intellectual exchange. History bears witness to this.

Making of Global Icons

Sometimes some theories or certain isms play a big role in getting certain books translated into many languages making those books a part of global literature. Since Albert Camus’ L’étranger and La Peste, Kafka’s Metamorphosis or Andre Gide’s Iron In the Soul, the theory of existentialism captured the imagination of the readers of the world. These books announced the advent of existentialism both in literature and in the arts. They were translated into all major languages of the world and immediately became global literature, with the writers becoming global icons as well.

Another phenomenon which is an outcome of this dynamism is that certain books/topics sometimes break the barriers of time and space of country & nation. Gabriel García Márquez exemplifies this phenomenon, having recently surpassed Miguel de Cervantes to become the most translated Spanish-language writer of this century. English-speaking readers discovered García Márquez primarily through two translators: Gregory Rabassa, who translated seminal works like One Hundred Years of Solitude and Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and Edith Grossman, who translated later works including Love in the Time of Cholera. Márquez himself famously considered Rabassa’s English version of One Hundred Years of Solitude superior to his Spanish original – a testament to translation’s creative potential.

Initially writing from the relative periphery of Argentina, Borges achieved global status through translation – first into French in the 1940s and then decisively into English in the 1960s after sharing the Formentor Prize with Samuel Beckett in 1961. Today, the adjective “Borgesian” has entered the global lexicon, nearly as recognizable as “Kafkaesque” or “Proustian.”

More recently, Han Kang’s 2024 Nobel Prize win highlights translation’s ongoing significance in expanding literary horizons. Han’s international breakthrough came in 2016 when she shared the International Booker Prize with her translator, Deborah Smith, for The Vegetarian. This recognition marked a turning point, opening doors for numerous Korean writers – particularly women – to reach global audiences.

Such trans-cultural successes not only enthral us but give us publishers ideas which may work in our endeavours to make our books world literature.

Thus, the evolution of world literature through translation demonstrates how diverse cultural narratives transcend language barriers, enriching global literary discourse. From Tagore’s poem to Tolstoy’s epics, the journey of these works underscores the dynamic, ever-evolving nature of literature. Translation not only preserves but also transforms stories, making them accessible to generations of readers worldwide, fostering a shared, interconnected literary heritage.