Resuscitating Culture through Translation: A Metalinguistic Reading of Valli in Malayalam and English

Abstract

Translation is often perceived as a mode of adaptation or transcreation from a source text to another, pertaining to its essence and facilitating cultural acclimation and hybridity. It is not a simple paraphrasing or rewording of the original text into a target language, but rather a creative reconstruction and a re-interpretation, embracing the dynamic nature of language as well as the human experience. It is a process where the translator enjoys the privilege of assimilating or rejecting whatever content he/she finds culturally, socially, linguistically and politically inappropriate. Translation thus becomes a creative adaptation and cultural re-contextualization, where the translator becomes a linguistic mediator as well as a creator of a metalanguage during the process. Literary translation plays a significant role in cross-cultural understanding and the transmission of cultural narratives, myths, and histories, keeping in mind a global audience. In the multilingual, multicultural landscape of India, translation has an evolutionary potential to integrate local ecologies and cultural contexts that can promote multiethnic exchanges and metalinguistic awareness. This paper intends to explore how translation becomes a transformative process of meaning-making, negotiation and cultural innovation in contemporary Malayalam fiction translated into English. This study attempts to throw light on the translation strategies adopted by Jayasree Kalathil in her English translation of the Malayalam novel Valli authored by Sheela Tomy, in encapsulating the tribal culture as well as the language, enabling visibility, adaptability and inclusiveness from a global perspective.