ABSTRACT

This volume examines the relationship between language and power across cultural boundaries. It evaluates the vital role of translation in redefining culture and ethnic identity. During the first phase of colonialism, mid-18th to late-19th century, the English-speaking missionaries and East India Company functionaries in South India were impelled to master Tamil, the local language, in order to transact their business. Tamil also comprised ancient classical literary works, especially ethical and moral literature, which were found especially suited to the preferences of Christian missionaries.

This interface between English and Tamil acted as a conduit for cultural transmission among different groups. The essays in this volume explore the symbiotic relation between English and Tamil during the late colonial and postcolonial as also the modernist and the postmodernist periods. The book showcases the modernity of contemporary Tamil culture as reflected in its literary and artistic productions — poetry, fiction, short fiction and drama — and outlines the aesthetics, philosophy and methodology of these translations.

This volume and its companion (which looks at the period between 1750 to 1900 CE) cover the late colonial and postcolonial era and will be of interest to students, scholars and researchers of translation studies, literature, linguistics, sociology and social anthropology, South Asian studies, colonial and postcolonial studies, literary and critical theory as well as culture studies.

chapter |19 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|42 pages

Toward a third language

Translating classical Tamil poetry

chapter 2|51 pages

The rhetoric of spontaneity

Translation of Bhakti literature

chapter 3|25 pages

The role of little magazines

Translating literary texts and texts on literary criticism from English to Tamil, 1900–2000

chapter 5|33 pages

Cultural empowerment and translation

A study of post-1970 ventures from Tamil to English

chapter 7|6 pages

Conclusion