Widening the horizons of learning

``AN INTELLECTUAL fete'' - that's how the three-day seminar organised by the Department of English, University of Madras on Literature, Culture and Translation, can be best described.

Teachers, scholars, translators and writers had assembled and there was expectation in the air. Even those whose commitments did not permit an entire day's indulgence, took a few hours off to be present at the inaugural session, which was to have no less a person than Susan Bassnett, pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of Warwick, England. One did not have to be steeped in translation studies but even a brush with it was enough to make one realise the intellectual stature of this guest.

Susan Bassnett is the leading scholar of translation studies in the U.K. and she has also made significant contribution to the field of comparative literary studies. No wonder, the spacious lecture hall of the University was full, with more people coming in as the introductions were made by Dr. C. T. Indra, Head of the Department of English, University of Madras.

The seminar was flagged off by Ms. Eunice Brook of the British Council, Chennai who also received the first copy of a souvenir on Ted Hughes, released by Ms. Susan Bassnett, Dr. Indra released The Uncollected Poems of A. K. Ramanujam (OUP) and the first copy was presented to the distinguished guest.

Susan Bassnett lived up to her reputation as she spoke of the changing status of translators through the centuries.

Though most in the audience were well acquainted with her ideas through her works, they listened to her in rapt attention.

Susan Bassnett spoke of the difficulty that monolinguals have in grasping the activity of translation. They think it is a substitution of elements from one language to another, while in reality it is a decoding and a recoding ``word for word, sense for sense''. Ms. Bassnett pointed out that the best metaphor for translation is transplantation where the seed is the same but the new soil and climate account for the changes in the plant.

Ms. Bassnett spoke with authority when she stated that translation has been gaining status in the post-colonial era and while it was described earlier ``as a no-man's-land; a zone between two hostile zones'' it is now accepted as ``a cross- gendering process, a bridge between the living and the dead.''

The theories of cannibalism and vampirism emphasise the symbolic destruction of the old order, for the new to come through. Translation can thus be described as the re-birth of a text through fusion with time.

Susan Bassnett's address was followed by that of Mr. Krishnamurthy who has done considerable work translating from German literature. He spoke from the perspective of a practitioner who is not unaware of theories.

What followed the lectures was a unique exercise in translation. Translations were presented by teachers and students from city colleges with analyses of the problems they encountered while translating.

There were translations from Tamil to English and English to Tamil. There were a couple of translations from Kannada and Bengali too.

Though students and teachers obviously enjoyed and benefited from this exercise, one could not help but wonder how far Ms. Judith Rodriguez, the Australian poet who chaired the session or even Susan Bassnett herself could gauge the value of these translations.

It is certain that Susan Bassnett would have been able to function more effectively if she had known Tamil. Her curiosity was greatest when her essay ``What is Comparative Literature today?'' was translated into the popular Tamil idiom.

However, in spite of the linguistic barrier, she not only listened keenly but also made some incisive comments on the presentations. This takes us to the issue of trust while reading a translation. Obviously we need a translation when the source language is unfamiliar.

But there is no way we can judge the fidelity of the translation. Perhaps reviewers and critics (bilingual ones!) can help. But once again, it is a question of trust.

On the second day, the focus was on Australian literature. With Australian studies gaining status as an important part of new literature, it was not surprising to see papers covering a wide range from ``Tamil Diasporic Writing in Australia'' to ``A Comparison of Indian and Australian Aboriginal Myths''.

The last day's seminar highlighted the coming of age of Canadian literature. Dr. Chellappan's plenary discussed the dialectics between the bewildering landscape and the self, the struggle for survival and the attempts to transcend the garrison mentality.

While canonical writers like Margaret Laurence and Margaret Atwood could not be overlooked, the emphasis was on the non- canonical doubly and triply hyphenated native women writers like Beatrice Mosomer.

The Department of English, University of Madras has opened its arms wide to writers-in-residence from Australia and visiting professors from different parts of the world. These visiting faculty have widened the horizons of learning for the students and provided them with a window to the world.

Now curriculum revision and inter-disciplinary collaboration is being seriously considered and a culture Studies Reader, representing the plurality of positions in India, is on the anvil. It is the hope of the department that in the near future, its students will be cultural ambassadors establishing links with different universities of the world.

HANIFA GHOSH

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