Reading Harimohan Jha’s The Bride, translated by Lalit Kumar: A Masterly Appraisal in Shared Pragmatism

Abstract

Most people believe that translation entails creating a copy of the original. However, as no two pieces of art can be exact replicas of one another, this is rarely the intended outcome. However, translation allows the translator to serve as a link between two communities, two languages, two cultures, and, ultimately, two worldviews. It allows the translator to invent something altogether new in that way. The translation is also a freeing activity since it does not entail reconstructing lexicon after lexicon. It gives the translator a great deal of freedom. When exercising such liberty, chapter names may be introduced in places where they are absent. These interventions may also result in changing the title or the addition of the proper references, as well as the repair of typographical mistakes and revisions to the narrative flows and chronology. In other words, the translator is given the 'authority' to represent two different cultures as an ambassador. This is precisely the situation with Lalit Kumar's expertly translated novel, The Bride, which was released by Harper Perennial.