Arunava Sinha discusses his translation of Khwabnama (Book of Dreams), written by Akhtaruzzaman Elias (1943-97); the greatest Bangladeshi fiction writer of the twentieth century.
Arunava Sinha translates Bengali literature into English, and English and other literatures into Bengali. His 70th translation will be published in April 2022. His translations have won several awards in India, and have been shortlisted for a number of international awards. He teaches at Ashoka University and is the Books Editor at Scroll.in.
Akhtaruzzaman Elias (1943-97) was the greatest Bangladeshi fiction writer of the twentieth century. His Khwabnama (Book of Dreams, 1996) was written in Bangladesh but is largely set in undivided Bengal prior to—and then during—the partition into India and East Pakistan. It both presents itself as an oneiric text (layered by temporal condensations and displacements, polyvocal, transversal) and narrates the tale of transmitted, withheld, shared, appropriated, and broken dreams through layered depictions of revolts that were ultimately unrealized dreams (18th century Fakirs, Muslim nationalism, the Tebhaga peasant uprising). The novel is a unique narrative and formal experiment in staging a dreaming subjectivity that exceeds exclusively national frameworks.
Co-sponsored by the Program in Translation & Intercultural Communication