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Challenges and possibilities in the translation of Dalit literature: An interview with Susheela Punitha

ABSTRACT This interview with Indian translator Susheela Punitha was conducted by email over the course of eight months from October 2020 to May 2021. Punitha describes how she embarked on a career as a translator through an English version of U.R. Ananthamurthy’s novel Bharathipura and assesses her motivation for translating Dalit literature into English from regional Indian languages such as Kannada. She discusses her recent translation of Lakshman’s Samboli! (2018), which portrays the experiences of Madigas, who, in Punitha’s words, are considered “the lowest of the low castes in Karnataka”. Punitha reflects on the uses and difficulties of explanatory “interpolation” and the ways in which she engages with the language, content, aesthetics, and affect of the source text. She comments on her professional relationship with the authors, Lakshman and U.R. Ananthamurthy, and also suggests how the idea of “Dalit consciousness” may be perceived differently by men and women.