Conclusion
What we have discussed are but a few forms of intersemiotic translation. T here are plenty of others like myth to painting (Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings), fiction to graphic format (novels to comic books), short story to play (W. W. Jacobs’ The Monkey’s Paw or Saki’s The Open Window), fiction to television serial (BBC productions of Sherlock Holmes stories) etc. The process becomes loaded with non-aesthetic reasons when the translation occurs from an art form of high culture to one of low culture. It is undeniable that the move to bring down an inaccessible work to the common reader is an act of literary/aesthetic egalitarianism. On the other hand, we can attribute economic motives of profit to it, if the translation is into the currently popular film or television serial format. It is evident that unlike linguistic translation, intersemiotic translation is fraught with numerous issues that defy simplistic solutions. For instance, the immensely popular television serials of Mahabharata and Ramayana helped in popularizing the myths among the common viewers, many of whom might not have access to Sanskrit or scholarly texts. However, it cannot be denied that they were made with an eye on the profits that they were sure to bring in. It cannot also be denied that in retrospect, these serials might have helped in promoting regressive communal politics in a society that was showing inclinations towards right-wing ideology. A comprehensive assessment of the ‘translation’ effected by the television serials will have to evaluate it as a cultural product placed in its socio-political context. This is what the cultural turn in translation studies is attempting to do.
Assignments
1. Which are the various way in which one art form can be translated into another?
2. Give an example of intersemiotic translation, and analyse the cultural politics of this process.
Reference
Sherrif, K. M. “Towards a Theory of Rewriting: Drawing from the Indian Practice”. Translation Today. http://www.anukriti.net/tt5/article8/page1.asp
|
