A review by kylegarvey
Translations of Shakuntala and Other Works by Kālidāsa

 Very rough ancient play. I think I could handle the bulk of it. The poetry that I think Kālidāsa actually wrote is fine and interesting, but I'm afraid the prose in between is frequently obnoxious, telling not showing, and yet weirdly unsure of itself. Of course, 1500 years is a huge jump! Reputing omnivorousness to me, to say Kālidāsa's like the Shakespeare of India, Sanskrit, other things, is ok theoretically, and I'm a generous reader; but I'm afraid it didn't charm me. Ever. 

 

The plot of the play (arguably influencing passion things, Goethe's Faust, and other more recognizable Western departures) is a simple romance involving Śakuntalā, an orphan daughter raised in Kanva's hermitage, wooed and married by local king Duṣyanta until, years later, after a curse, he fails to recognize her. But see, she has this ring and, after some myth-crashing, she and her son reunite with the guy. What's a hermitage, though? Where? In what religion? Haha. Dense I can be, I know, immoderately! But still. 

 

Among archaic oddities of romantic love -- evoking some of the baddest and clumsiest Bollywood kind of AŚOKA plot, to me https://letterboxd.com/kylegarvey/film/asoka/ -- any color is passed away quickly enough. Like Leopardi's writings to me are Kālidāsa's, overall, and comparing them volume to volume I find K a lot less successful than L. https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/07f084ef-5b45-49ed-9d4e-3c775db6de54 I don't know where you'd put Kinks's "Got Love If You Want It" on top of this drama, for random instance! Lol.