Lutesong and Lament - Book Review

-- Santhush Pararajasingam.

Lutesong and Lament - An anthology of Tamil writing from Srilanka - edited by Chelva Kanaganayakam. Published by TSAR - ISBN 0 -920661 - 97 -1

This book of English translations .- An Anthology of tamil writing from Srilanka, constitute 48 writings, including 36 poems and 12 short stories from 35 tamil speaking writers. The poems and short stories reflect various periods of the Srilankan Tamil history.

The writings of a society helps the outside world to feel and understand its historical, political and social movements - its existence , the oppression, the war, the exodus, the tacit function of the cast system, the struggle, self criticism and the hard life .

It must be appreciated that an immense attention had been paid in most of the translations to keep the soul of the creation intact. The artistic mind and the involvement in literature of the translators - give a lively impulse to the translations. We get this feeling especially when it comes to the translations done by A .J. Kanagaratne , Laxmy Holstrom and Kanaganayagam. To my knowledge, this is the first collection of English translations of the Sri Lankan Tamil Literary writings.

This collection begins with Mahakavi`s AKALIKAI and concludes with Sivasegaram`s AKALYA. There is a span of five decades between these two poems. Two poets treat an epic symbol in two different ways . A vast difference could be seen in their perspectives on society and Feminism. The Sri Lankan Tamil poets use images and symbols but they differ in their expressions. This significant phenomena gives a pluralistic face to the Srilankan tamil poetry.

Times and circumstances change but some literary works standout from others as mirrors reflecting their period. The novels by K . Daniel and his short stories, N . K . Ragunathan`s short story "NILAVILEY PESUVOM - (Let's chat in the Moonlight), which exposes the cast system that functions indirectly in the Jaffna society. Dominic Jeeva's " PATHUKAI "- (Shoes) , N.S.M. Ramaiah`s "MALAIKALUKALUKAPPAL "-( Among the hills), Mahakavi`s "THERUM THINGALUM" (Chariot and the Moon) , A.Yesurasa`s "ARIYAPADATHAVARKAL NINAIVAKA "- (Remembering the Unknown) , Sivaramani`s "YUTHAKALA IRAVONDRIN NERUKKUTHAL" -( A war - torn Night) belong to this category. The poetical voice that cries, on behalf of the forcefully expelled Muslims from the North is that of S. Vilvaratnam (The Worship Star). It is .recorded as the voice of the Tamil society's conscience.

In the preface of the book, K. Daniel`s importance not only in the Srilankan Tamil literature but also in the contemporary Dalith literature is mentioned, but non of his stories are published in this collection. His "MURUNGAI ILAIK KANJI" -( Murunga leaves porridge) , that minutely tells the deeply rooted "upper" - cast consciousness, should not have been left out.

Along with this short coming, the collection would have been more complete by also including the poems like Jeyapalan`s "VAKKALIKAP PATTA POOMI" - (The promised land ), that thunders about the birth right of the plantation Tamils, and S.Sivesegarams "HITLARIN DIARIGAL "- (Hitler's diaries ) which recall the painful memories of the State - sponsored murders at the Wellikada prison in July 1983.

The number of the short stories written by women could have been increased. There is only one short story written by Thamarachelvi - "the Gap". The poems by Selvi, Sivaramani, Kasthuri , Urvashi are included.

Appreciation and thanks go to the editor and the translators for giving the outside world , a literary evidence of a society which has passed over a traumatic history. At the same time recognising the importance of this collection there are some criticisms, that should be made..In translations, not only the word to word accuracy must be kept, but also the soul and the beauty of the creation must be preserved. To understand a song or a poem , it is important to feel and understand the surroundings and how a writer faces it.

The translation of "A night in Frankfurt " by V.I.S.Jeyapalan has come out well. The prosperousness of poesy , militancy, anger urging jusitice were the characteristics of Jeyapalans poems in the 80`s , that gave a poesy richness to the Srilankan tamil poetry. This beautiful poem too was written in the same period , which describes the day to day life of the youth who emigrated to the European countries in the eighties. The void existence of these youngmen from Jaffna and the social reasons for their fate, are well described with a blend of amazing poetry. :

He who left home

scared of flies

silently bursts out and cries

in the snow dropping night.

As far as this poem is concerned, these lines are very important. While reading between the lines it would be clear that the criticism is placed upon, who is running away from the social problems and challenges , when there are many ways to face and solve them. "Fly" comes here as a symbol of the problems in the society. It is to be noted that these lines were written before, a large number of tamils left for foreign countries, following the escalation in the ethnic conflict in 1983. The tragedy, which has occurred in the translation is, the very lines which give the reason for the youngman leaving home, " scared of flies" are not translated. May be the importance of these lines were ignored as a result of carelessness - or only because it was just only a fly ! ,When we change or exclude an image or just some lines, during the translation, there is a danger of the soul of the creation getting destroyed. Is it not the duty of a translator to beware of this danger?

In the biographical notes about the writers, it must be appriciated mentioning Kasthuri`s death in the battle field for freedom.The life of a poet who lived and died as a fighter should be recorded. On the other hand Selvi and Sivaramani are stated as " they died". Selvi was abducted and missing to this date.. Sivaramani commited suicide burning all her poems, as a protest!. It may be incorrect to expect that every detail of each writer must be given,but when information of one writer is given in detail and the other two writers are not mentioned, we doubt the compilers sincerity. Concealing the circumstances and the reasons for their tragic ends will prevent anyone from feeling and understanding their creations.

Many poets and writers have not only left their writings as social criticisms, but also lived their lives and even left their deaths as social criticisms. My intention is not to focus only on some deficiencies of this collection. I am just pointing out the indifference, that is shown in the "Notes about the contributors". It is similar to the feeling caused by reading a note, which says, John F.Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, but Ernesto Che Guvera just died in 1967.

Santhush Pararajasingam lives in Berlin. He had served in the Editorial boards of the Tamil magazines "Sinthanai" and "Thenee", which were published in Stuttgart, Germany. Presently he is an active member of The Centre for Alternate Analysis ( Prarthana) in Berlin.