Anthologize and Be Damned

Good intentions in anthology-making are never good enough unless they are backed by a clear sense of direction, a balanced overview of the ground under survey, and—if it is an anthology of translations—an uncompromising stand on the quality of translations coupled with a precise awareness of the ‘other lan­guage’ audience and its standards. The book under review is a disastrous example of (what must have been originally) good intentions running amuck. Going by the title and copyright pages one gained the impression that the Kerala Sahitya Akademi was itself the anthologist. One was no end thrilled thinking of the troubles that august body must have taken to transform itself into an anthologist. But a certain apolo­getic patch in the scholarly Introduction to the book by Professor Sukumar Azhikode alerted one unhappily to the possibility that he himself could be the anthologist ­unless, like a good samaritan, the Professor is holding the baby on behalf of the Akademi. How one wishes the latter were true! For it would be sad—and very disturbing—to see a critic and scholar of Professor Azhikode’s eminence, with an undoubted understanding of the Malayalam literary scene, making a hash of a simple enough anthology. I am sure it cannot be so and Professor Azhikode cannot have been a party to this insensitive, distorted and ill-translated picture of contemporary Malayalam short story, which the Kerala Sahitya Akademi has seen fit to project. Nevertheless, one thanks him for the comprehensive Introduction; perhaps the only saving grace of the book.