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apurvanagpal 's review for:
Ratno Dholi - The Best Stories of Dhumketu
by Dhumketu
Ratno Dholi (translated from the Gujarati by Jenny Bhatt) is a collection of 26 short stories by Dhumketu, one of the pioneer short story writers of Gujarati literature. From more than 500 of his published short stories, Jenny Bhatt has selectively handpicked the ones in this anthology showing the range and progression of different themes and styles explored by the author through his characters.
The stories, mostly set in the early 1900s in rural Gujarat are rich in understanding of the human nature through their cultural, religious and patriotic expressions, a versatile exploration of the traditions, art and caste/gender biases of a time different to ours.
I enjoyed reading some stories more than the others and have a few favourites. The opening story titled "The Post Office" is remarkable, I remember reading it for school and loving it back then as well. Some other memorable stories were “Mungo Gungo” , “The Noble Daughters in-law” and the title story “Ratno Dholi”.
But like any other story collection, this was a mixed bag for me, while some stories left their mark, some felt dated and did not work for me.
The translation felt seamless and I loved how it tied the stories together through the recurring themes and situations faced by the characters and I thought it was a very clever approach on the selection of the stories. She has also kept some of the original Gujarati words in the text preserving their meaning and keeping the flow intact.
I also loved reading the Translator's introduction about Dhumketu's writing style, the short story narrative and also outlining own her approach for the selection and the translation process!
'Translation is not simply the act of converting words from Language A to Language B. Also, language is not merely words, phrases, idioms, etc. Languages contain entire cultures within them; entire ways of thinking and being too.'
The stories, mostly set in the early 1900s in rural Gujarat are rich in understanding of the human nature through their cultural, religious and patriotic expressions, a versatile exploration of the traditions, art and caste/gender biases of a time different to ours.
I enjoyed reading some stories more than the others and have a few favourites. The opening story titled "The Post Office" is remarkable, I remember reading it for school and loving it back then as well. Some other memorable stories were “Mungo Gungo” , “The Noble Daughters in-law” and the title story “Ratno Dholi”.
But like any other story collection, this was a mixed bag for me, while some stories left their mark, some felt dated and did not work for me.
The translation felt seamless and I loved how it tied the stories together through the recurring themes and situations faced by the characters and I thought it was a very clever approach on the selection of the stories. She has also kept some of the original Gujarati words in the text preserving their meaning and keeping the flow intact.
I also loved reading the Translator's introduction about Dhumketu's writing style, the short story narrative and also outlining own her approach for the selection and the translation process!
'Translation is not simply the act of converting words from Language A to Language B. Also, language is not merely words, phrases, idioms, etc. Languages contain entire cultures within them; entire ways of thinking and being too.'