Book fair a window into world literature

Literature can leave a lifetime impact on our minds. It helps us understand ourselves and the world around us. And it transcends boundaries through translation.

This year's Ekushey book fair saw a large number of translated versions of world literature by prominent authors.

Curious booklovers were seen buying, flipping pages, and searching for books to satisfy their literary palate at Suhrawardy Udyan yesterday.

Dr Lutfun Nahar, a surgeon of Dhaka Medical College, was buying “Kabalmysteriet” (The Solitaire Mystery) by Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder.

“I have read Gaarder's 'Sophie's World'. His books are like a quest to find fulfillment and the meaning of life,” she said.

Sandesh, the books' publishing house, also brought several others including French philosopher Michel Foucault's “Society Must Be Defended”, translated by Sanjiban Sarker.   

The new edition of the Bangla translation of Shakespeare's “Hamlet” by eminent litterateur Syed Shamsul Haq is also one of the favourites at the fair published by Anyaprokash publication.

Even a collection of timeless world plays is presented in a book “Natak Samagra” by dramatist Tariq Anam Khan.

A complete collection of translated short stories of Maxim Gorky by Hayat Mamud is also selling well along with other classics, said Proshenjit Roy, staff of Charulipi Prokashon.

Many publishers were seen selling mostly translated books at the fair. For example, 11 new translated books arrived at Oitijjhya's stall.

However, some visitors also expressed dissatisfaction over the high cost of the translated books.

Adnan Toufiq, a Dhanmondi resident, could not buy HAR Gibb's “Travels of Ibn Battuta” translated by Iftekhar Amin though he bargained hard for it at Oitijjhya Prokashani.

“I really wanted to buy the book. But they were asking Tk 500 for it,” said the private job holder.

“Because of the hike in prices of paper, binding and to maintain the quality, we cannot offer more than 25 percent discount,” said Amjad Hossain Khan, sales manager of Oitijjhya.

Booklovers can also peep into Sandesh publication, which has a wide variety of collections this year. The publisher has brought out 34 books so far. Of them, 25 are translated novels of authors like Isaac Asimov, Orhan Pamuk and Naguib Mahfouz.

Among the books, “South of the Border, West of the Sun” by Japanese author Haruki Murakami, a story about attempting to recapture the magic of the past, is highly sought. The novel is translated by Tapobrato Das.

Even children became a part of the literary journey as the publication brought translated versions of various children's books.

“Bisalakay Bondho Daitta” by Roald Dahl and “King Solomon's Mines” by H Rider Hagard both translated by Chunilal Mukhopadhyay were drawing much attention from the young bookworms.

There were also complaints regarding the quality of the translation.

Aminal Aman, a Dhaka University student, who came to buy Robert Frost's poetry, said, “It's quite hard to find a good version out of so many translated ones.”

On the eighth day, 109 news books arrived and 14 were launched.

Many publishers expressed satisfaction saying the fair so far has drawn large crowd and their sales have been increasing. According to Bangla Academy, its stall has sold books worth Tk 19.55 lakh in the last week.