The Gravity of Translated Literature

The importance of translated literature has existed always, but in recent decades, the weight of translated versions has escalated. Being able to share one’s literature with other cultures has not only exposed readers to staggering authors like Dostoevsky, Kafka, and Murakami but also garnered attention for these writers’ societies, their way of life, and the heritage and customs of their countries. This also translates into (pun intended) writers branching their literature beyond their own country. In doing so, they expand their horizons and make sure the world knows that their art is not just for themselves; some artists want to convey what they have made to a wider audience. So an English translation, for example, is one of the means to be able to help them diversify their work and help readers have encounters with literature that is not mainstream. To be able to resonate more with the world outside, translations are the only solution. Without translations, Gregor Samsa and I would be leading antipodal lives!

Apart from that, there is also this whole debate about whether we, as South Asians, are still colonized mentally since we put so much importance on English literature specifically. Even in schools and as readers, English as a language and English novels are more fixated upon. This is especially why translated literature needs to be circulated more — to be able to, for lack of a better word, recover from the effects of a colonized mind. If we look at this from an Asian perspective, South Korean author Han Kang, also a Nobel Prize winner, has managed to bring out the struggles of her people through her fictive world — thanks to translations! In Human Acts, for example, Kang uses the Gwangju uprising as the backdrop. Belonging to an Asian country that was colonized, it is ironic how the English-translated version uses the colonizers’ language to highlight a political movement of such magnitude.