A Multiple Addressivity: Indian Subaltern Autobiographies and the Role of Translation

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Abstract

This essay argues that the field of South Asian literary studies needs to train its gaze more sharply on the process of translation. It examines the development of a distinct genre, the ‘subaltern autobiography’ that is encoded as a product of translation practices in India, practices that differ distinctly from the Western context. The reasons for this are, firstly, because in India the role of the translator is a much more visible figure, and secondly, because translation assumes a political function in fostering alternative canons, and can be linked to the development of a politicized identity across languages. In particular, this essay focuses on a number of Indian autobiographies by subaltern authors translated from Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, and Bengali into English, in which the importance of the author versus translator is often inverted through the unequal power relations inherent in the two languages involved. Through focusing on these autobiographies, Srivastava examines some trends in translational practices in India in order to look at how certain genres have migrated across languages, and become part of an increasingly problematic ‘global’ canon.

Keywords

English Translation Indian Language Political Consciousness Unequal Power Relation Literary Canon 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.School of EnglishNewcastle UniversityNewcastle upon TyneUnited Kingdom

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