Veteran writer-translator Professor Khaliquzzaman Elias-translated literary work titled Rashomon is available at different bookshops.
The translated collection of stories in Bangla of Japanese fiction writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa was the writer-translator debut publication back in 1982. Publishing house Nautilas has recently ventured to bring out a new version of the book.
Ryunosuke Akutagawa is sometimes considered as the father of modern Japanese short stories. His 鈥淩ashomon鈥� brought him fame when the Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa made a film based on his stories in 1950, said Khaliquzzaman Elias.
Today, readers are familiar with works of Natsume Soseki, Kazuo Ishiguro, Kenzaburo Oe, Sayaka Murata, Toshiki Okada, and mostly Haruki Murakami, he said, mentioning, 鈥楢kutagawa belongs to the first generation of modern Japanese writers who paved the way for the younger generation.鈥�
Akutagawa, a pale and feeble young man, was also a highly sensitive and introverted person so much so that it made him a maniac, and finally he committed suicide at the age of 35.
Pointing out that the power of the stories of Akutagawa lies in disinterested approach to life and the characters he dealt with, his merciless treatment of their personal traits, oddities, and religious superstitions, Khaliquzzaman Elias said, 鈥楾he book contains seven short stories.鈥�
鈥楬e chose the medieval Japanese literature, both oral and written, especially stories of Genji or Genji Monogatari as background of many of his stories and fine-tuned them with modern socio-psychological trends,鈥� he added.
Readers can buy copies of Rashomon on the Facebook page of Nautilas. The book can also be purchased on online platforms, including Rokomari, and Bookharbour.
Khaliquzzman Elias, who believes in the creativity of translation, has translated several classics of world literature. Among the major classics are James George Frazer鈥檚 The Golden Bough, Jonathan Swift鈥檚 Gulliver鈥檚 Travels, Richard Wright鈥檚 Black Boy, Joseph Campbell鈥檚 The Power of Myth, Frederick Douglass鈥檚 Narrative of an American Slave, Chinua Achebe鈥檚 Arrow of God and the Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis鈥檚 Zorba the Greek and Report to Greco, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau鈥檚 Confessions.
