From Anantajeevanam to Awakened Soil: An Instance of Self-Translation

Abstract

This paper takes Anantajeevanam and its English translation Awakened Soil, a novel written and translated by Sahitya Akademi Award winner Kolakaluri Enoch, as a unique instance of ‘self-translation’. The paper takes in to consideration the various issues related to self-translation and the implications of such a process. One of the primary enabling factors of self-translation is the autonomy with which the author can take decisions about the means and modes of translation. While keeping this is mind, the paper will analyse the various strategies undertaken by the author-translator Kolakaluri, studying in the process the structures of narration and the language deployed. In the process, this paper engages with commercial aspects of translation and its relationship to the ‘original’, especially in the conditions of the author translating his own work.