| Recently
a new book entitled 'Waves' has come out. It is an anthology of award-winning
Kashmiri poems written by the eminent Kashmiri poet and J&K Cultural
Academy awardee Mr Arjan Dev Majboor. The English translation has been
done by Arvind Gigoo. Waves contains some fine surrealistic sketches by
famous Kashmiri artist and sculptor Vijay Zutshi.
Waves has recently won an award, a Gold medal and a citation from the Poets' Village, Calcutta. The book has also been reviewed and excerpted in various literary journals and newspapers of India, viz. The Journal of Poetry Society (India), The Brown Critique, The Indian Express, The Kashmir Times, The Daily Excelsior etc. Besides, the book has been lauded by many a literary critic in India for its path breaking translation. The translator, Mr Arvind Gigoo, has done away with the old and hackneyed translation techniques. Instead he has evolved a unique style of his own wherein the poems appear to have a strong tint of modernity and magical realism to them. The English language translation surely reminds one of Garcia Lorca, Luis Jorge Borges, TS Eloit and Allen Ginzberg. Language seems to have been liberated from age-old shackles of adherence to traditional diction and prosody. Noted poet and critic Dr TN Dhar prefers to call the attempt as transcreation instead of translation. And indeed, it is a landmark translation, a true watershed in the history of Kashmiri literature translations. Even the surrealistic sketches by Vijay Zutshi comment and add to the meaning of the poems. The long poem 'To the Swan' (Tsol in Kashmiri) is a great poem in contemporary Kashmiri poetry and has won the poet many laurels. Some of the themes which the poems reflect are exile, death, loneliness, freedom, mysticism, God, nature, Time, space, Kashmir and nostalgia. Any queries and requests for placing orders for the book may please be forwarded to the following postal address: Professor Arvind Gigoo |
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