Mashal Books as Cultural Mediator: Translating East Asian, Middle Eastern, and African Literatures into Urdu in Lahore

Abstract

Thornber discusses Pakistani publisher Mashal Books as a cultural mediator among Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. After opening with a brief introduction to Mashal, its history, variety of publications, and commitment to translating creative writing into Urdu, the chapter analyzes Mashal’s Fiction list, arguing that its translations renegotiate multiple hierarchies among nations, communities, and genders. Looking closely at the types of texts Mashal has chosen to translate, and at how selected texts have been marketed as well as translated, provides new perspectives on processes of transfer, the overlap of actor roles, and the transgression of cultural fields. The chapter offers fresh insights into how literary exchanges have renegotiated hierarchies among disparate communities globally.

Appendices

Appendix 1—Translated Fiction Engaging with Health Published by Mashal Books

1.1 Texts Focusing on Women’s Health

• Two short story collections from Korea: Hyunjae Yee Sallee, A Sketch of the Fading Sun: Stories by Wan-suh Park (Pak Wansǒ 1999) and Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton’s edited anthology Words of Farewell: Stories by Korean Women Writers (1989), which presents short narratives by Kang Sǒkkyǒng (姜石景, 강석경), Kim Chiwǒn (金知原, 김지원), and O Chǒnghŭi (오정희). ⁴³

• Additional translated narratives engaging with women’s health concerns:

  • Woman: A Collection of Stories, an anthology of short pieces from Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, and China.

  • Anthologies of Taiwanese, Japanese, Bengali, and Indian fiction

    • Bamboo Shoots after the Rain: Contemporary Stories by Women Writers of Taiwan (1990), edited by Ann C. Carver and Sung-Sheng Yvonne Chang.

    • Japanese Women Writers: Twentieth Century Short Fiction (1991), edited by Noriko Mizuta Lippit and Kyoko Iriye Selden.

    • Truth Tales: Contemporary Stories by Women Writers of India (1990), edited by Kali for Women.

    • Of Women, Outcastes, Peasants, and Rebels: A Selection of Bengali Short Stories (1990), edited by Kalpana Bardhan.

• Individual texts from Algeria , Bangladesh , Egypt, India, Japan, Morocco , and Taiwan.

  • The Bengali-language Bangladeshi writer Selinā Hosena ’s (সেলিনা হোসেন, 1947–) Warp and Woof (Ṭāṇāpoṛēna, তানাপারান, 1994).

  • The Taiwanese writer Li Ang ’s (李昂, 1952–) The Butcher’s Wife (Shafu, 殺夫, 1983).

  • The Indian writer Rama Mehta ’s (1923–1978) Inside the Haveli (1977).

  • The Bengali-language writer Rōkeyā Sākhāoyāta Hosena ’s (রোকেয়া সাখাওয়াত হোসেন, 1880–1932) English-language novella Sultana’s Dream (বেগম রোকেয়া, 1905).

  • The Egyptian writer Nawāl al-Sa‘dāwī ’s Death of the Last Man and Other Stories (Maut al-rajul al-waḥīd ‘alá al-’arḍ, , 1974) and Memoirs of a Woman Doctor (Mudhakkirāt ṭabībah , 1957).

  • The Japanese writer Kizaki Satoko ’s (木崎さと子, 1939–) Phoenix Tree and Other Stories (1990).

  • The Japanese writer Ariyoshi Sawako ’s (有吉佐和子, 1931–1984) The River Ki (Ki no kawa, 紀ノ川, 1959).

  • The Algerian writer Ali Ghanem ’s A Wife for My Son (Une femme pour mon fils, 1979).

  • The Moroccan writer Laylá Abū Zayd ’s (, 1950–) The Year of the Elephant: A Moroccan Woman’s Journey Toward Independence and Other Stories (‘Ām al-fīl, , 1980).

  • The Bangladeshi writer Shawkat Osmān ’s (শওকত ওসমান, 1917–1998) Bengali-language Mother (Jananī, জননী, 1958).

1.2 Texts Focusing on Other Health Concerns

• Illness and Poverty: The Korean writer Cho Sehŭi ’s (1942–) The Dwarf.

• Brain injury and Mental Illness: Ōe Kenzaburō ’s Teach Us to Outgrow our Madness (Warera no kyōki o ikinobiru michi o oshieyo, われらの狂気を生き延びる道を教えよ, 1969).

• Colonialism and Disease: The Indonesian writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer ’s (1925–2006) This Earth of Mankind (Bumi Manusia, 1980) and Child of All Nations (Anak Semua Bangsa, 1980).

• Aging: Kawabata Yasunari ’s (1899–1972) The Sound of the Mountain (Yama no oto, 山の音, 1970).

• Leprosy: The Korean writer Yi Ch’ǒngjun’ s Your Paradise.

• War and Illness: The Japanese writers Ibuse Masuji’s Black Rain; Nakazawa Keiji ’s (1939–2012, 中沢啓治) Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima (Hadashi no Gen, はだしのゲン, 1974); Takeyama Michio ’s (1903–1984, 竹山道雄) Harp of Burma (Biruma no tategoto, ビルマの竪琴, 1946), and Tsuboi Sakae ’s (壺井栄) Twenty-four Eyes (Nijūshi no hitomi, 二十四の瞳, 1952); the Indian writer Githa Hariharan ’s (1954–) In Times of Siege (2003); the Vietnamese writers Du’o’ng Thu Hu’o’ng’s (1947–) Novel Without a Name (Tiểu thuyết vô đề, 1991) and Bảo Ninh ’s (1952–) The Sorrow of War (Nỗi buồn chiến tranh, 1991). ⁴⁴

• Additional health issues are addressed in the Indonesian writer Mochtar Lubis ’s (1922–2004) A Road with No End (Jalan Tak Ada Ujung, 1952); the Chinese writer Zhang Xianliang ’s (1936–, 张贤亮) Half of Man is Woman (Nanren de yiban shi nüren, 男人的一半是女人, 1985); Trevor Carolan ’s edited anthology Rim of Fire: Stories from the Pacific Rim (1992); and Van C. Gessel and Momone Matsumoto , eds., The Shōwa Anthology: Modern Japanese Short Stories (1985).

Appendix 2—Other Topics Addressed in Mashal’s Translated Fiction

• Environmental degradation features prominently in the Thai writer Khammān Khonkhai ’s (1938–, คำหมาน คนไค) The Teachers of Mad Dog Swamp (lit. Letter from the Teacher from the Boonies, Jotmai jak khru ban nawk, จดหมายจากครูบ้านนอก, 1978).

• The urban/rural divide and the difficulties of rapid modernization are important concerns in such works as Suh Ji -moon’s anthology of Korean narratives The Golden Phoenix: Seven Contemporary Short Stories (1998); the Malaysian writer Shahnon Ahmad ’s No Harvest But a Thorn; the Thai writer Pira Sudham ’s (1942–, ) Monsoon County (1988); the Sri Lankan writer Martin Wikramsinghe ’s (1890–1976, ) The Way of the Lotus (Virāgaya , 1956); and the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) and Man of the People (1966). ⁴⁵