Importance of genres

Genres also play a significant role in the selection of titles for translation. Fiction is unsurprisingly the most popular choice. While Macmillan concentrates on novels, Katha focuses only on short stories. Macmillan's Mini Krishnan who was the main figure behind the translation project explains that the aim of the Modern Novels in Translation project was to “show as authentic a picture as possible of the different strata of Indian society” (qtd in Kothari 65). Geeta Dharmarajan of Katha believes that “at the beginning of everything is the story” (qtd in Kothari 65). What get neglected are the genres of poetry, autobiography, travelogues, literary criticism, and non-fiction in general. There are few translations of academic studies or other scholarly treatises. The few that have been translated are ones that have an ideological slant. For instance, Kancha Ilaiah's trenchant pro-dalit treatises like Buffalo Nationalism and Why I am not a Hindu have had Malayalam, if not other Indian language translations. Translations of drama are also relatively few. Calcutta 's Seagull Books specifically seeks to address this gap in translation publication; they have a series titled New Playwrights of India. Oxford University Press has brought out the collected plays of Vijay Tendulkar and also the plays of Girish Karnad. In the case of poetry, there are poets who undertake translations themselves or for other fellow-poets. A. K. Ramanujan was instrumental in getting the ancient Sangam poets known to the English-speaking world. Only the Sahitya Akademi undertakes translations of what are seen as ‘unprofitable' genres like biographies or other academic works.