3 New Modern International Classics Found in Translation
Aug 19, 2018
One of the advantages of being a polyglot is the ability to absorb the literature of a host of different nations and cultures. Those of us who are stuck with (or best at) English, however, sometimes miss out on the best of what the rest of the world has to offer. Translation is a seriously difficult art and requires a deep relationship with the text to be able to transform idiom and cultural concepts into something that still preserves their spirit. At its best, though, it helps us connect to people all around the globe. The three new novels in this week’s book club are great examples of literature, feted in their native countries, that have been all but unknown elsewhere — until now. Catch up on your global lit and give them a read.
<em>The Tale of the Missing Man</em>
Written in 1995, Ahtesham’s acclaimed Hindi novel is a take on a classic Urdu genre called dastan. Dastan tales are filled with dramatic quests by noble heroes, who eventually find true love. One could say this is a fairly familiar trope of worldwide literature, so it’s no surprise that Ahtesham’s novel translated so well (in fact, it won the Global Humanities Translation Prize). In this case, it’s a novel about issues of personal and Muslim identity set in 1970s and ‘80s Bhopal, in a country still feeling the 1947 division between British India and Pakistan, which caused the displacement of millions based on religion.
<em>Pretty Things</em>
Despentes’ satire of performative femininity was a hit in her native France when it was originally published in 1998. Unfortunately, its commentary on the destructive effects of conforming to societal expectations hasn’t lost any of its timely edge.
<em>Flights</em>
This popular and sometimes controversial, anti-nationalist Polish writer is also more well-known at home than abroad, but when this book won this year’s Man Booker International Prize, people started to take notice. That notice resulted in this translation of this novel, written as a semi-memoir from a philosophical and capricious narrator who is obsessed by thoughts of travel and movement.
