column: Expanding the audience

I have with me a collection of Urdu short stories translated into English by Mohammad Salim-ur-Rahman, titled The Naked Hens: An Anthology of Urdu short stories (Ilqa Publishers, Lahore).

Salim-ur-Rahman is best known for translating English works into Urdu. His translation of the The Odyssey earned him the reputation of introducing Homer to the Urdu world. His other translations, which stand out both due to the literary value of the original works as well as for being admirably faithful to to them, include masterpieces such as Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness, Anton Chekhovs plays Three Sisters and The Seagull, and Yasunari Kawabatas The Sound of the Mountain.

He also has to his credit a number of compilations, including a dastan titled Tilismay Goharbar by Munir Shikohabadi and two adaptations, H.G. Wells The Invisible Man and H.R. Haggards King Solomons Mines translated and published under the titles Ghaibi Insan and Sulaimani Khazana respectively.

His scholarly study of ancient Greek literature, published under the title Mashair-i-Adab, is a remark-able work in which the entire Greek age has been recreated. Along with his scholarly studies and translations, Rahman is also an acclaimed poet and a short story
writer.

With a strong academic background, Rahman started translating literary works from English to Urdu. His choice for translations is not haphazard as tends to be the case with most translators. For instance, Rahmans decision to translate The Odyssey into Urdu is consistent with his deep involvement with Greek literature. What is inconsistent, though, is his stopping short of translating The Iliad. Instead, he moved to the later periods of European literature.

However, Rahmans translation of Urdu stories in The Naked Hens is not the outcome of any such involvement. He himself states that this anthology is not the outcome of any planning. The stories included in it were translated at different times at the bidding of different persons.

The em ergence of Afro-Asian writers on the international literary scene after the Second World War is responsible for awakening a thirst in Urduwallas. Never before had they thought of going beyond the confines of their language. It was perhaps the first time under the auspices of the government of Pakistan that an idea of introducing Pakistani writers to the international literary scene was conceived. Faiz Sahib, in collaboration with Professor Viqar Azeem, planned a volume of Urdu short stories translated into English to be presented at an international level.

Rahman was considered for translating these stories. But like so many other ambitious projects, this too failed to materialise. A few of the stories in The Nakend Hens are those which were meant to be part of the shelved project.

Rahman did well to collect all the stories he had translated on different occasions and compile them in a volume. Yet, it would have been better had he taken the trouble to add a few more stories from leading Urdu writers.

In spite of this shortcoming though, the collection represents different trends which have been in vogue during different periods of Pakistani fiction.