Monday, June 24, 2013

Ibsen’s Doll’s House translated into Eezham Tamil in Norway

Photograph of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) [Photo courtesy: National Library, Oslo]
TamilNet[TamilNet, Monday, 24 June 2013, 00:02 GMT]
Henrik IbsenPe'npaavaiModernism’s world famous playwright Henrik Ibsen’s Et Dukkehjem (A Doll’s House) has found earlier translations in Tamil. But what is special about the present translation by Kasinather Sivapalan is that it is in spoken Eezham Tamil, making the reading and staging of the play homely to Eezham Tamils in their country and in the diaspora across the world. A Doll’s House, written in 1879 and said to be the world’s most performed play by the early 20th century, is not new to Eezham Tamils. Even 50 years ago it was staged in Jaffna, scripted in Tamil and directed by veteran writer, the late Mr E. Mahadeva (Thevan-Yaazhppaa’nam), who was Mr Sivapalan’s teacher at Jaffna Hindu College. The current translation by Mr Sivapalan, produced in Norway where he is in exile now, comes as a publication of Mithra Arts and Creations in Chennai. 
K Sivapalan
K Sivapalan