Author: B R RAJAM AIYAR
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 180
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0195656393
Description
This work is a translation of one of the earliest novels in Tamil. Enlivened with unforgettable characters, the novel is replete with witticisms and has a rich vein of satire and irony running through it.
Translated from the Tamil by Stuart Blackburn, this work is one of the earliest novels in Tamil. It traces the lives of Muttuswami Aiyar and his wife, Kamalambai, whose contended domestic life is shattered by the gossip and intrigue perpetrated by envious relatives and neighbors. Enlivened with unforgettable characters, the novel is replete with witticisms and has a rich vein of satire and irony running through it.
Significant also as a demonstration of a new literary aesthetic, The Fatal Rumour represents an attempt to recast vernacular literature by extending its range of expression through the adoption of a distinctly Western and ‘modern’ form while trying to maintain the earlier imaginative world of the folk-tale, proverb and legend.
With a detailed afterword, as well as Notes and a Glossary to aid readers, this book will appeal to those interested in the regional literatures of India and intellectual culture in the colonial context.
EXCERPTS FROM REVIEWS:
What makes the novel a must-read is the humor and sarcasm that slips into the translation so wonderfully well.. - India Today
The youthful exuberance with which Rajam Aiyar captures the urgency of even the smallest happenings in the village comes through even in translation. - The Telegraph
The boldness and liveliness of Stuart Blackburn’s approach works very well. - Indian Review of Books
THE TRANSLATOR:
STUART BLACKBURN teaches at the Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia in the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.