DHARWAD: Flannery O’Connor was an American novelist and story writer was honoured with National Book Award for Fiction posthumously in 1972 — she died in 1964, aged 39. Her stories have been well received in English literature.
Dharwad writer Basu Bevinagidad, who is also the programme head at All India Radio, has translated five of her stories into Kannada and compiled them in the book ‘Dakkada Kaadu’. As the translated stories are in Dharwad dialect, they are getting good traction in Kannada literary circles too.
Bevinagidad, who has authored 11 books in Kannada, said he decided to bring O’Connor to Kannada readers after reading her story ‘A good man is hard to find’. “I was disturbed as the story focused on how human being’s faiths are being destroyed. Then I read her other stories and decided to translate them,” he said.
In his preface, veteran writer O L Nagabhushanaswami has said that O’Connor’s stories can connect with Kannada readers. “This book introduces the thoughts of O’Connor well, and justifies why her stories are needed in Kannada,” he added.
Hema Pattanashetti, another writer, said O’Connor has explored sensitive issues like holocaust, racial intolerance and regional imbalance. “This anthology has brought out such issues. As the stories are in north Karnataka dialect, this book has applied a new formula in Kannada story-telling,” she added.
