Translation and Literary Genres: A Case Study of Poetry in Bengali ...
Translation and Literary Genres: A Case Study of Poetry in Bengali ...
Translation and Literary Genres: A Case Study of Poetry in Bengali ...
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<strong>Translation</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Literary</strong> <strong>Genres</strong>: A <strong>Case</strong> <strong>Study</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Poetry</strong> 123<br />
<strong>in</strong> <strong>Bengali</strong> <strong>and</strong> Marathi<br />
Letters on the Aesthetic Education <strong>of</strong> Man, Schiller describes the<br />
‘play-drive’ as mediat<strong>in</strong>g between the ‘sense-drive’ <strong>and</strong> the ‘formdrive’,<br />
<strong>and</strong> produc<strong>in</strong>g the realm <strong>of</strong> art. Art could thus be considered<br />
as a form <strong>of</strong> creative play, with the circumscribed limits <strong>of</strong> cultural<br />
traditions, st<strong>and</strong>ards, structures or rules, <strong>in</strong>f<strong>in</strong>itely repeatable but with<br />
new variations each time it is played out. Return<strong>in</strong>g to the question<br />
<strong>of</strong> genre per se, one could say that the regulatory <strong>and</strong> repetitive<br />
structures <strong>of</strong> genre are constantly disrupted by the anarchic<br />
tendencies <strong>of</strong> writ<strong>in</strong>g as ‘play’. The writer plays with genre. When<br />
one considers the dynamics <strong>of</strong> genre creation, Michael Madhusudan<br />
Dutta’s need to deviate from the precedent <strong>of</strong> the European models<br />
available, reveals a new awareness <strong>of</strong> form <strong>and</strong> textuality. Thus, the<br />
<strong>Bengali</strong> sonnet must be understood <strong>in</strong> terms both <strong>of</strong> similarity <strong>and</strong><br />
difference when compared to the European practice.<br />
Michael Madhusudan Dutta’s sonnets prepared the way for<br />
other sonnet writers like Nab<strong>in</strong> Ch<strong>and</strong>ra Sen <strong>and</strong> Rab<strong>in</strong>dranath<br />
Tagore. Nab<strong>in</strong> Ch<strong>and</strong>ra Sen made a curious attempt <strong>in</strong> the sonnet<br />
form, where the alternate l<strong>in</strong>es were <strong>of</strong> the same length <strong>in</strong> the first<br />
twelve l<strong>in</strong>es; while <strong>in</strong> a regular sonnet, the l<strong>in</strong>es are <strong>of</strong> equal length.<br />
It would be worth quot<strong>in</strong>g the sonnet <strong>of</strong> Nab<strong>in</strong> Ch<strong>and</strong>ra Sen:<br />
The Sonnet<br />
Tridiv jotsnya devi murti, dhori.<br />
Aji ki bhutole khoshi?<br />
Jotsyna sagore jotsnya dahlia<br />
Shashi korotole udilo shashi<br />
Pabitratoro? Ki je pabitrata,<br />
Tridiv madhuri poriche jhori<br />
Sudhngshu hoyte, sudha angshu jano,<br />
Pappurno dhora pabitro kori.<br />
Nidrante dekh<strong>in</strong>u kaksha <strong>and</strong>hakar<br />
Alokiche murti – manabi noe.<br />
Bhorila hridoy , bhahilo nayone –