Translation, (post) Coloniality, and the Work of Vilas Sarang

Abstract

Translation, literary or cultural, is always a political project because it makes one language and culture accessible to the speakers and subjects of another. Vilas Sarang has attempted to destabilise the idea of the translator and the translator’s work by self-translating his works from Marathi to English. He has insisted that his writings, originally written in English, be also labelled as translated works. In the absence of an original text, the original English work is declared secondary so that the global consumers of literature do not forget the Marathi linguistic origins of the author. This position of Vilas Sarang is analysed, in this paper, as a strategy to minoritise the English language, a global literary medium.