The Experience of Translating Kunwar Narain's Poetry
No One Is the Other
1st Edition
Will be published approx. on 16. October 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
300 pages
978-1-041-40813-0 (ISBN)
Description
The essays on translation in this book reimagine the poetry of Kunwar Narain, a seminal literary figure of modern times. His diverse, profoundly human, and cosmopolitan oeuvre-a distinctive, if somewhat underexplored, cornerstone of contemporary Indian literature-has seen growing interest. The essays dwell on the dual experience of his poetry and of translating it, foregrounding the intimate relation between the two.
Originating from an international symposium on the poet in Switzerland, the volume draws on aesthetic, practical, and linguistic considerations to interrogate the landscape of literary and intersemiotic translation, navigating a mix of approaches and challenges. It brings together voices from Europe, India, and America working in eight languages-including the visual language of cinema-with reflections by translators, poets, and scholars. Its publication also marks Narain's birth centenary in 2027.
This first-of-its-kind collection melds three literary and academic streams: Narain's poetry as an instance of new Hindi poetics, translation studies, and South Asian studies. Its eclectic exploration of poetry translation will speak to a range of audiences-lovers of world literature, those interested in translation, and researchers at the intersections of language, culture, and creativity.
Originating from an international symposium on the poet in Switzerland, the volume draws on aesthetic, practical, and linguistic considerations to interrogate the landscape of literary and intersemiotic translation, navigating a mix of approaches and challenges. It brings together voices from Europe, India, and America working in eight languages-including the visual language of cinema-with reflections by translators, poets, and scholars. Its publication also marks Narain's birth centenary in 2027.
This first-of-its-kind collection melds three literary and academic streams: Narain's poetry as an instance of new Hindi poetics, translation studies, and South Asian studies. Its eclectic exploration of poetry translation will speak to a range of audiences-lovers of world literature, those interested in translation, and researchers at the intersections of language, culture, and creativity.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Postgraduate
Illustrations
28 s/w Abbildungen, 28 s/w Photographien bzw. Rasterbilder
28 Halftones, black and white; 28 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-041-40813-0 (9781041408130)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Nicola Pozza | Apurva Narain
The Experience of Translating Kunwar Narain's Poetry
No One Is the Other
Book
approx. 10/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€191.50
Not yet published
Persons
Nicola Pozza is a senior lecturer at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. His current project examines the construction of the Himalayan space in twentieth- and twenty-first-century Hindi travelogues. Besides publishing essays on Hindi literature, he authored a two-volume French manual on Hindi (Le hindi... comme en Inde, 2022 and 2023) and co-edited India in Translation through Hindi Literature (2010). He has translated Geetanjali Shree's novel Khali jagah (Une place vide, 2018) and a selection of Kunwar Narain's poems (Confluences, 2025) into French.
Apurva Narain is a literary translator, writer, and editor. As Kunwar Narain's son, he oversees his father's literary estate and has edited some of his later works. His English translations of Kunwar Narain's works include the poetry collections No Other World (2008) and Witnesses of Remembrance (2021); and the co-translated story collection The Play of Dolls (2020). His work has appeared in several journals and anthologies. He has had professional interests in international development, ecology, and public health ethics.
Apurva Narain is a literary translator, writer, and editor. As Kunwar Narain's son, he oversees his father's literary estate and has edited some of his later works. His English translations of Kunwar Narain's works include the poetry collections No Other World (2008) and Witnesses of Remembrance (2021); and the co-translated story collection The Play of Dolls (2020). His work has appeared in several journals and anthologies. He has had professional interests in international development, ecology, and public health ethics.
Content
List of Figures. List of Contributors. Acknowledgements. Note on Transliteration, Translation, and Style. Introduction Part I Poetics and Translation: Reading Between Words Extract: The Troubled Soul of Conscience 1. The Translator's Tasks and Kunwar Narain's Poetics: The Short Poems, 1956-93 2. The Topography of Narain's Poetics: A Dialogue Between Place and Location 3. The Poetics of Water and Translation as Negotiation: Challenges of Rendering Kunwar Narain's Poetry into Bulgarian 4. The Wonderland of Words: Strategies and "Creative" (In)correctness in the Translation of Kunwar Narain's Poetry into Polish Part II The Re-creation of a Translator: The Example of Kumarajiva Extract: The Historic Contribution of Translators 5. Kunwar Narain's Poetic Re-creation of the Buddhist Translator Kumarajiva and the Spirit of Translation: Passages to Humanness 6. Kumarajiva, Kunwar Narain, and I: A Dialogue on Translation 7. On Translation, Transculturality, and Kumarajiva: Some Observations in the Context of Kunwar Narain's Epical Poems Part III The Experience of Translation: Words and Worlds Extract: In Praise of Translation 8. Between WorLds: Kunwar Narain's Poetry Across Cultures and Languages 9. "Translation as Challenge...": A Few Thoughts on Translating the Poems of Kunwar Narain into Polish 10. Un/veiling the Poem, Un/veiling the Self: On Translating Kunwar Narain's Atmajayi into English 11. Images of Transcendence in Kunwar Narain's Poetry: Notes on the Intersemiotic Transcreation of Words into Cinematographic Images 12. Kunwar Narain's Poetry and Literary Cinema: Strategies for Intersemiotic Translation Appendix 1 Kunwar Narain: Selected Bibliography Appendix 2 Kunwar Narain's Poetry Collections Appendix 3 On the Poetry of Kunwar Narain (Pankaj Chaturvedi). Index