In search of man's place in the universe

The year 1947 witnessed India's 'tryst with destiny' to put it dramatically. However, Independence did not bring in only euphoria, a feeling of being free from foreign rule at last, there were feelings of self-doubt-doubt in our own selves about our own capability.

Literature of the period runs along both streams, often exploring shades of grey, between ecstasy and self disillusionment. One such writer is Gopichand who wrote in Telugu.

The Bungler (Asmardhuni Jivayatra) is his second novel which was first published in 1947. What attracts the modern reader to it is the subversive nature of the novel and the way it interrogates many of the things we just take for granted.

One can read The Bungler on many levels. On a very literal level it is a humdrum tale of a well-meaning but good for nothing man who is born into an affluent family but loses everything because of his gullibility and dies in penury.

On another level it can be read as a philosophical discourse about man's place in the universe. To quote from the Introduction. "The novel begins and ends with death, the father's on the first page and the son's on the last ; in between preoccupation with existence and means of sustenance."

The first few sentences of the novel are clearly indicative of the sordidness that prevails throughout the book. To quote, "Sitarama Rao's life is rather odd. What comes to mind is a clear brook falling from a high peak to the soil below, mingling with dirt and flowing into a cesspool."

What comes across sharply on many fronts is his split personality, his professed atheism and his penance to Shiva the God of Destruction rather than Brahma or Vishnu who preside over Creation and Preservation respectively. Another ironical split is the youthful, romantic Sitarama Rao who married for love as revealed by his diary and his inexplicable harshness towards his wife later.

There are many such splits in the novel and one can read them as the responses of an educated but sceptical individual to whom the freedom of his country does not mean much, or more generally read as the alienation of modern man.

The Introduction also tells the reader about R S Sudersanam's biographical study of the novel in Telugu which looks at similarities between the novelist Gopichand and his creation Sitarama Rao. It seems Gopichand's father was a great supporter of rationalism in Andhra Pradesh.

Gopichand was influenced by it initially but later realised its limitations. His father's death left a void in his life, something that he got over by writing this novel. Excesses are always to be avoided.

To quote, "If rationalism remains an intellectual attitude, there is no harm; one can mould it to lived life... But if it becomes a poisonous weed in the psyche of an individual, it destroys him." And this is what happens to Sitarama Rao.

The Translator's Note to the novel(titled Introduction) is of great interest to the reader on this side of the Vindhyas who knows very little about literary trends in the south.

Also, this overview of the literary scene with special reference to the Telugu novel helps the reader to put Gopichand's novel in the proper perspective. The translator also takes up the charge levelled at The Bungler that it is a copy of Gorki's novel Foma Gordeyev and attempts to refute it at length.

He also talks about the problems faced by him while translating this novel. According to him, "The translator has to serve two masters "" the author in the original language and the reader in the target language "" and serving two masters is never easy."

This reviewer feels that in a case like this when the author and the target language reader are both Indians, the problem is not very major and can be overcome with some effort. When there is great disparity between the socio-cultural ambience of source language and target language, translation can pose difficulties.

A reader not familiar with the source language text of The Bungler does not have any problems with the English version. The spartan and severe nature of the narrative is in keeping with the plot and the characters.

There are occasional notes for culture-specific terms, but these are not very many and do not impede the reader's enjoyment or even one's speed of reading. One does not really get the feeling that one is reading a translated text. The novel stands on its own which, one feels, is the litmus test for any literature in translation.

THE BUNGLER:

A Journey through life

Gopichand; Translated into English by D S Rao

Srishti

Pages: 167

Price: Rs 145