Indian Literature(s) in English Translation and the Discourse of Resistance and Representation
As the title shows, in this talk Rahman will discuss issues of resistance and representation with reference to Indian text and their English translation. Although Indian literatures have been widely translated in the past, the act of translating India has become a serious academic engagement in the recent past. Considering this great tradition of translation, he will discuss how the questions of contextualization, theorization and canonization need attention in the fast changing literary scenario, more especially the postcolonial scenario representing a new literary culture.
Dr. Anisur Rahman is Professor in the Department of English and Modern European Languages, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He works in the areas of postcolonial literature and literary translation. He has researched in the literatures of India, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. His publications include Form and Value in the Poetry of Nissim Ezekiel, Expressive Form in the Poetry of Kamala Das, and New Literatures in English: Tradition and Modernity in the Literatures of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. He has extensively published translations of poetry from Urdu to English and vice-versa. Fire and the Rose is his anthology of modern Urdu poetry in English translation, and Translation: Poetics and Practice is the volume of critical studies he edited with reference to the Indian text and context.