[Lt_Apple]

Topic started by hub admin (@ siebel200.siebel.com) on Tue Jan 16 13:58:06 .


Iyal, a newly established trust, is planning to publish an anthology of some of the best of tamil short stories translated to english. Your input is needed. What are the best short stories in tamil literature, in your opinion? Any genre is welcome. This thread will also help people to get an introduction to the best short stories in our literature and read them.

[brraverishhh]

Balaji Wrote:

.."Iyal, a newly established trust, is planning to publish an anthology of some of the best of tamil short stories translated to english. Your input is needed.."

I'm not sure if Balaji is talking about short stories that have
been translated "already" or the ones that might qualify for a translation to English...

Assuming Iyal is trying to collect a list of Tamil Short stories for translation,here is a partial list...[imho]



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[Fegasderty]

jkmkk

[PhillipHer]

vassan, we are talking about stories that will be good for translation. looking for more recommendations from you. i will put a permanent list here at the end as a reference for beginners.

[Big A]

Balaji,
I think it is useful to see what is out there first..both in Tamil and in English. Didn't ka.naa.subramaniyam translate some Tamil stories into English? What about various Tamil collections like
Asokamithran's , Akilan's and saa.kandhasaamy
(for Sahitya Academi..which led to controversy)..
(I have seen reference to these in a recent Kumudam interview with writer Samudhram..).Should not these be first translated ? They have been chosen by well-known authors who probably have read a lot more than many of us...

A less controversial attempt is to identify the 'best' short story writers and choose one story for each...

[Beerinkol]

Pasupathi, this is the list that sujatha had given in his vikatan article (kaRRadhum peRRadhum).
pudhumaip piththan - manidha iyandhiram
ku.pa.rajagOpaalan - vidiyumaa
thi.jaa - silirppu
laa.sa.raa - kottu mELam
ku.azhagirisaami - anbaLippu
su.raa - prasaadham
a.maadhavan - naayanam
JK - agni pravEsam
JM - pallakku
vaNNadaasan - nilai
krishnan nambi - marumagaL vaakku
naanjil naadan - vaakkup porukkigaL
ashOkamiththran - pulik kalaignan
krishnamurthy - manidhargaL
IP - asalum nagalum
iraa. murugan - uththaraayaNam
su.samudhram(!) - naangaavadhu kuRRachchaattu
raa.ki.ra - seidhi
thangarbachchaan - kudi mundhiri
sivasankari - septic
rajam krishnan - maavilaith thOraNam
prabanjan - meen
ki.raa - kadhavu
sundharapaaNdiyan - kaLavu
vaNNanilavan - esther
dhileep kumar - kadidham
chO.dharuman - nasukkam
nagore rUmi - kuttiyaappaa
ramachandra vaidhdhiyanaadhan - naadaak kaarargaL
baamaa - aNNaachchi
sujatha - mahabali

[NeroASERCH]

Balaji,
Thanks ..the list looks pretty good.Perhaps it really relects the post-Independence period nicely. What about early years ? Should not they be represented as well? ( See , e.g. the many
volumes of Story Collections published by Alliance. To my knowledge, they have issued Four 'KataikkOvai's. Each contains more than 50 stories ..all by different writers. I think their effort is very laudable since it is perhaps the first such one by any Book Publisher ...in such exhaustive manner. But I am sure those selections will not match Sujatha's list! )

The following concerns remain in my mind.
1. Difficulty in preparing "the best" list. This is similar to "best" pictures... the judgement of peers ( supposedly Oscar), judgement of Critics (Critics' Choice Awards), Popular Choice etc. All
will differ many times.
In Tamil fiction, rightnow we do not have a good mechanism for polling a large number of readers. If all the Tamil magazines (with Web presence) start a best story of the Year poll, slowly we may get a list of "best" from each Magazine according to Readers' choice. I am told that an organization ( Crea? Ilakkiya Vattam ?) meets regularly in Chennai to choose the best story of the year in a particular magazine. Such efforts are all to be encouraged. Finally critics, Tamil Writers' Assn etc should also start awarding Prizes every year.. look at Mystery Writers' Assn in USA... .
2. Another question: Such a translation is aiming at which audience? Will the reader have the background to understand the cultural background of the stories or does one need 'footnotes' and explanations... Even very good translations of Tamil works suffer in this regard. e.g. Prof Zvelebil's translation of U.vE.sA's autobiography ..there are a lot of details which will leave the uninitiated reader completely lost... One needs an Annotated Translation to cross the cultural divide. In fact, such annotation is needed even for Tamil readers of the same book !
3. Since it is a popular name or a prestigious panel which will usually sell such Translations, the best course of action..may very well be to choose a well-respected author/critic and go with his/her list.At least the name will sell the book. ( When I buy Best Mystery Stories collections, I usually go this route. ..go with the choice of a person I respect..)

[HedgeYourBets]

Pasupathy,

"ilakkiya sinthanai" is the organization which meets every month to choose the story of the month from all the published stories in that particular month; an interesting aspect is that readers are used to select the stories. Finally, the best story of the month is chosen from these 12. All the twelve are published by Vaanathi Pathippagam every year. (thiru. Vaasan's list above reflect some of the chosen stories from ilakkiya sindhanai--I don't know if he's aware of it.)

Thiruppur Thamizh Sangam, Katha, lilly vinaayagam Trust(hope I got that right!), Kalki/ Kumudam/ Kanaiyaazhi competitions, and several other Trusts recognize short stories in their own ways.

There are some anthologies which can be used as references too, compiled by Asokamithran, Dilipkumar, Sa.Kandhasamy, Pirabanchan, and those published by organizations by ilakkiya sindhanai, Sahitya Academy and kuRaL peedam. Given the rich diversity of contemporary Tamil short fiction, there are several criteria which can be used to define and tailor an anthology; I personally believe the final decision always rests with the Editor(s) regardless of whether the nominations are obtained from a prestigious panel, people's panel, or through a one-person selection, as long as the criteria are defined well.

You are right about the translation being able to communicate to an "outside" audience effectively. I've heard many critics say that this is where several translations of contemporary tamil works fail to date. I have no comments on these critiques since I've read the Thamizh originals only.

An aside:
Writer Sujatha selects "mahaabali" from his written works in the A-V list. I personally would pick a story like "nakaram", which had a tremendous impact on me as a reader. Some other reader may pick yet another story. An interesting learning by itself.

[NeroASERCH]

kanchana,
you said, "lilly vinaayagam Trust (hope I got that right!)"
or, is it Lilly Devasigamani Trust??

[radikal]

I read a translation of Na. Muthuswamy's stories. (I think the translation was by someone called Lakshmi Holstrom). The stories were very interesting.. particularly Death (Ezhuppu?), Who shall be my refuge? (Yaar thunai?). I though the translations were rather too raw. If your goal is to translate the 'best' so far in Tamil short fiction , do consider this writer.

Vijay

[tgs]

Thirumathi Kanchana

vaNakkam.

As a matter of fact I wanted to inform Balaji about the "ilakkiya cinthanai"
and its yearly selection of the 12 best short strories of the year
and the best among those 12 and all that.
Waited for responses from others to see where this thread is heading

I've the ilakkiya cinthanai collections from the year 1991-93 thro' 1998.
If you do not have them already, can mail them to you.

While browsing thro' the older/inactive threads here @ Forum Hub under
the Tamil Lit. category,found the following relevant threads,well sort of.

======

http://forumhub.com/tlit/2492.22.05.05.html

http://forumhub.com/tlit/11799.10.10.18.html

http://forumhub.com/tlit/8078.09.21.19.html

=======

imo: Collect various thoughts/opinions from all kind of Tamils;
evaluate,analyze and then choose the best short stories that qualify
for translation to Englsh.I''ve no qualification to advice you,but pl make
an effort to include those writings,even if they aren't from well known
"successful" writers,but still could be one of a kind.

To add a bit further,of all places here in Abq,NM ran into munnOdi
Tamil short story writer ['i've been told] Mowni's grand son on the other day!!
'was told by him Mowni's short story collection is out of print,but he
has a copy.If you or others would like to include anyone of his short stories,
I would be glad to write it up,in a February or March weekend.

Here is yet another thread where I'm planning to write up some
of those short stories that I've read and feel like,are one of a kind,imho...

http://forumhub.com/tlit/25899.14.56.38.html

Mind you, this from an average (may be below!) tamil soul's point of view but a
"siRukathai piththu" as well ) ,this as a forewarning to disregard any further
inputs from the likes of me

[9mm_fan]

forgot to add

"ilakkiya cinthanai" has its best 12 short
stories of the year since 1967.Getting hold
of those 33 x 12 = 396 s.stories should help.

[softy54534]

Forgot to add one more very comprehensive anthology: "irubathaam nURRaaNdin siRantha siRukathaikaL" Volumes 1-5 (Vol.5 to be released soon), compiled by Vittal Rao. Of course, there are also numerous short story collections orgaized by authors, magazines,(Kanaiyaazhi, Deepam, KaChaTaThaPaRa etc.), "female writers"(!) and so on.

Ramani,
I think you are right about the name of that Trust.

vj,
Good to see you here after a long time. Yes, Na. Muthusamy is a solid short story writer, imo. Did you read the translation of his collection "neermai"? (Ms. Lakshmi Holstrom of UK, is known for her translations; it is interesting to note you consider her translations "raw"; I'll be reading some of her sample translations soon.)

vaasan,
nanRi. I have the ilakkiya sinthanai collections upto 1999. Have read a few thousand short stories so far, and still going! Of course, I've read Mauni's collection; however, if there's an autographed copy around, I'd love to get that from his son

Posting short stories in the other thread is a good idea; please make sure to cite the source so as to honor copyright laws. I noted you are currently posting A.Muthulingam's "Visa". He is one of the notable contemporary writers whose writings have subtle undertones of irony and tongue-in-cheek humor. As a UN officer, he's lived in many parts of the world and several stories reflect his exposure to multiple cultures. I think his "vadakku veedhi" short story collection won the Sri Lankan Sahitya Academy Award award last year (or, was it "vamsa viruththi" short story collection? Knowledgeables, please feel free to correct any wrong info here.)

After everyone's had some time to read "Visa" by A.Muthulingam in the other thread, I can post a story by one of those "lesser known" authors. It is amazing how so many authors have vanished after writing a few impactful stories. I wonder if their creative juices ran dry or did Life just swallow them up?

[LottiFurmann]

1. Seevan ('Jeevan') --- by Gandarvan. It is about a 'muni' residing in an aalamaram and a pichaik kaaran parked there.
The legends on the exploits of muni, and anecdotes about a cross-section of villagers are remarkably well brought out in such a short story. (from the anthology "pUvukkuk kIzhE" by Agaram (or Annam?)publishers, Sivagangai. Actually many stories there are good.).

2. Pakkaththil vandha appa -- by Sundararamasamy
A story from a child's point of view-- great educative experience on how children see parents and other adults. Very much readable too.

[Paul Bunyan]

bb posted:

>> From: bb (@ siebel200.siebel.com) on: Thu Jan 18 12:39:53 EST 2001

>> Pasupathi, this is the list that sujatha had >> given in his vikatan article (kaRRadhum
>> peRRadhum).

>> laa.sa.raa - kottu mELam
>> iraa. murugan - uththaraayaNam

Just wanted to make sure whether it is typed correctly by you or not. 'Kottu mElam' was written by Thi.Janakiraman and 'Utharayanam' was written by La.Sa.Ra.

Kottu melam story is same as Ant and the Grasshopper by Somerset Maugham (localised).

I don't know whether these two authors have written stories with same title. need to check if you are interested.

[tgs]

Kani,
I wrote to Sujatha and asked him about this when he gave this list in Vikatan., He replied that there is one more 'Kottu meLam' by laa. sa. raa which came in KalaimagaL magazine.,

Kanchana, I thought of writing about 'Nagaram' as Sujatha's best, Munthik koNdeerkaL.,

Lavanya ...

[Raj_Copi_Jin]

>> laa.sa.raa - kottu mELam
>> iraa. murugan - uththaraayaNam

Just wanted to make sure whether it is typed correctly by you or not. 'Kottu mElam' was written by Thi.Janakiraman and 'Utharayanam' was written by La.Sa.Ra.


Well, my uTharAyaNam was published in Subhamangala in 1994.

[NeroASERCH]

Lavanya & Murugan, thanks for the info

[Beerinkol]

amma oru kolai seithaal - Ambai
anjaraipettiyil pillayaar muthalaanoor - Ambai
(not sure of this title)

[tgs]

"anjaraipettiyil pillayaar muthalaanoor - Ambai (not sure of this title)"

Kani, I think you mean "plastic dappAvil parAsakthi muthaliyOr"