Editorial June 2010
With this issue, thulika.net enters its tenth year. It has been a great pleasure for me to continue
writing, translating and publishing Telugu fiction and informative articles during the last nine
years. I am particularly grateful to you, the readers, for your support and enthusiasm.
It has not always been a smooth ride. There are occasion when I entertained the idea of closing
the site. Finding stories suitable for our audience, contacting writers, obtaining permissions, and
their approval of my translations have not always been easy. Nevertheless, something kept my
interest up and running.
In this issue, I am pleased to present a comprehensive history of Telugu fiction in its early stages.
In the past, a few articles discussing various aspects of the history of modern Telugu fiction have
been published on this site. This article, a lengthy review of the book Telugu short story from the
early times to 1930s by Prof. K. K. Ranganathacharyulu discusses at length the first three
decades of modern Telugu story. This book would be excellent source for the students of the
history of Telugu fiction. My original plan was to translate most of the book but it turned out to be
an impossible task for me. Alternatively, I pointed out a few salient thoughts from the book and
leave it to the readers to go to the original source for complete information, if possible.
My article on Dwivedula Visalakshi is long overdue. She is one of our veteran writers of the sixties
era. I met with her in August 2009. She said she had donated her entire works with full rights to
the Visakhapatnam Public Library. Later I learned from Bhamidipati Ramagopalam that she also
had set up a trust to the tune of one hundred thousand rupees for the library.
I must admit that the visit was very pleasant, she was kind and courteous. However, her recent
action—telling me not to publish my translation of her story—got me into thinking, that is reflecting
on the relationship between writer, reader and the story.
From the moment a story is conceived to the time a reader appreciates the finer elements in the
story, it is a long journey. A writer may start to make one point and in the course of writing end up
producing a different story with a different perspective. Then the question is whether the writer is
aware of all possible interpretations a story lends itself to?
Readers usually pick one angle in a given story, one character or one incident, which is relevant
to similar to something in their lives. And they comment on that aspect, may even go off
tangentially at a specific point in the story and build on that angle, leaving the story behind. Then
the question is whether at point the writer feels that the reader is misinterpreting his or her story?
When does a reader/translator misinterpret a story? After Visalakshi had written to me not to
publish my translation of her story, I began to wonder what would happen when the reader’s
perception differs significantly from the author’s purpose? Does the story lose its value as a work
of art? Is it not true that we would not have so many interpretations of Dickens’ stories or Mark
Twain’s stories if we just had stuck to find only the author’s intent. This is one argument. On the
other hand, there was however an instance when I was annoyed because my story was
misinterpreted. I think we need look further into this issue.
“All This, Just for You!” is a story about a well-qualified man refusing to go out and look for a job.
Instead, he sits at home, assuring his wife that some big company will come to his door and hand
him a high-ranking position on a silver platter. I had to wonder how he could sit at home idling
away his time while others of his age and qualifications are fully engrossed either in work force or
busy finding work.
“Dream of Acchamma” (Dr. Vasa Prabhavati) depicts the life of a woman whose vocation was
pounding rice. For her, it is a way of life, a way of bringing community together. However, the
vocation is losing ground in a world taken over by industrialization and mechanization. It is sad
that some of these occupations should be flushed out by industrialization and along with it all the
human values inherent in the vocation.
Happy reading!
Nidadavolu Malathi
June 1, 2010