ISLAMABAD: ‘Feminine Foot Print on Pakistani Literature’ comprises a translated version of nineteen (19) Urdu short stories by a mix of old and young female fiction writers from Pakistan, selected and rendered by Amir Rizvi, a seasoned translator and bilingual litterateur.
Amir Rizvi has discreetly selected these female fiction writers of Urdu, both past and present, for inclusion of their short stories rendered by him into English, in this book. It is a Pakistan Academy of Letters sponsored venture with an apt preface by its Chairman Dr. Yousuf Khushk, an erudite foreword by the eminent Pakistani poet of English Ejaz Rahim, and a discursive ‘translator’s note’ by Amir Rizvi himself.
‘The array of writers presented here’, as Dr. Yousuf Khushk views it, ‘represent women specific Pakistani literary scenario’. Ejaz Rahim is of the opinion that ‘Mr. Rizvi happens to be a passionate translator. He is able to convey not only the physical aspects of a creative story but also the spirit of the work he takes up for translation.
I believe that a translator worth his salt has to acquit himself honorably in facing a double challenge. He must not deviate from the original in terms of substance but he must not be a slavish follower of the text as well. Translations require to transport a whole ethos, culture and spirit of the original. I think the term ‘co-creator’ makes eminent sense for a good translator.’
According to the translator, ‘These stories not only illustrate the diversified cultural and social issues of Pakistani women, but also tell how they perceive the world around them.’ The feministic tone and tenor of the stories tend to enhance their contemporaneous value in the backdrop of the acute socio-moral concern that modern literature in all its forms and formulations evinces for the distaff sensitivities. The purpose underlying the present selection is ‘to convey their (women’s) voice to the foreign world in addition to English speaking segment of our society’. The original writers and their works are listed below:
Mumtaz Sheerin (What an Ignobility, What a Nobility) Bano Qudsia (Impure Hearts); Khadija Mastoor (Bhorey); Hajra Masroor (Oh, Love); Hijab Imtiaz Ali (Late Wife); Zatoon Bano (The Madwoman); Bushra Rehman (Womanliness); Azra Asghar (The Eighteenth Girl); Firdous Haider (How Mona Died); Parveen Malik (Who I Am?); Noor Ul Hoda Shah (The Venom of Life); Massarat Kalanchvi (Sleep); Neelam Bashir (Another River); Farhat Parveen (Sensitive Human Beings); Tahira Iqbal (His Strange Move); Zahida Raees Raji (Dog); Saba Javed (The Farness); Humaira Sadaf Hassani (Jinx); and Musarrat Laghari (Trifles).
According to Ejaz Rahim, ‘The translator has an amazing vocabulary and a zestful style of expression. All in all, Mr. Rizvi has made a sterling contribution in translating these stories which so aptly sum up the feminine side of human experience in this land, which is equally the human side of feminine experience. One can be proud of the depth and range of the human aspect covered by these contemporary short stories. They have projected life-like situations with great integrity and courage. These constitute Art’s illustrious homage at the temple of human dignity.’
All in all, the book implies a commendable attempt to introduce and expose the Pakistani female fiction writers to a bilingual global world of cross creeds and cultures so as to ‘construct’ a common narrative for sharing and exploring the diverse but intricate formulations of feminism on a diasporic (or cosmopolitan) level.
