Of Slavery

Literature shouldn’t be the slave of a language.

The context is here, in Marathi.

For those who don’t read Marathi: The context post was a response to an earlier incomplete tag about books. I have recently purchased a 480 page book on Sambhaji by Vishwas Patil. Reading one page in Marathi takes me about 30 minutes, effectively would mean 18 odd days to finish the entire book @ 24 hrs a day!

Did I mention, this is ‘old’ Marathi!

I was wondering about the success of The Alchemist, whether its popularity was a factor of the number of languages that book has been translated to or innovative marketing strategy by the publisher and author. I think it is both. I would love to read more Marathi books – but I don’t have that much time & energy (read patience).

Then I imagined the so many other beautiful books in other languages which have not been translated. I therefore wished, what I have written above.