Prof U R Ananthamurthy, an accomplished academic now shortlisted for The Man Booker International Prize has focussed the spotlight on Kannada literature.

The Man Booker International Prize is an international version of the Man Booker Prize which is applicable to specific countries. While this award considers writers across the globe, it is awarded for their entire body of work which is available both in their regional language as well as translations. It is appropriate to therefore ponder over issues of translation and Indian writing in English. Ananthamurthy’s work facilitates fertile ground to explore questions, speculate and search for answers as Indian English readers, who are still steadily grounded in their regional language cannons.

Ananthamurthy’s writing pioneered the Navya, a modernist literary movement in Kannada literature. His novel ‘Samskara’ along with short stories became the hallmark of this movement. His writing goes beyond mere narration, or the prose that is poetry but the questions that his characters pose. Interestingly the plots that he crafts about these mundane characters, brings out conflictual situations not only among them, but also draws readers into dilemmas over old and new values, the search for an identity in the light of constantly changing times. For instance, his short story ‘Suryana Kudure’ available in English translations encapsulates this style that is so unique to Ananthamurthy, his characters and their fate in his fictional world.

While most of Ananthamurthy’s work is available in English translations, he otherwise writes in Kannada. More.

See: Deccan Herald

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