There is a greater need for gay literature in smaller cities and in vernacular languages, believes author, poet and gay icon Hoshang Merchant. "At least in the larger cities support groups are now available… What resources does a person coming out (as gay) to his family or friends have in small towns? None… It’s in the mofussil areas where people are dying or killing themselves of shame that such translation is needed,” he stated emphatically, speaking to Parsiana on July 9, 2024. Which is why he is delighted that his book, The Man Who Would Be Queen: Autobiographical Fictions, has now been translated into Bengali by experienced, self-styled, queer translator, Sourav Roy and published by Tritiyo Parisar.
Hoshang Merchant (l) and Sourav Roy
collaborated for Bengali translation (below)
Roy’s idea of translating the book germinated during the second wave of the pandemic, he informed Parsiana on July 9. "I did not know (Merchant) in person but was following him on social media and had read excerpts from his books… He asked if I could work on a translation of his autobiography and I thought about it and agreed.” To ascertain that Roy was the right choice, Merchant had the first draft of one chapter reviewed by academician Prof Brinda Bose of Jawaharlal Nehru University.
"The tough part was to keep a consistent tone of voice (in the translation)… Merchant talks through so many voices…letters to him… his poems written over 10 years…quotes from others. Also, pronouns and genders are written differently in Bangla (as the locals refer to their language).” Being faithful to the text was difficult, but he did it, he is satisfied.
The translator wrote in the preface to the book, "It was a shockingly smooth process. Hoshang Merchant’s eagerness of getting his first autobiographical fiction translated in Bangla, and my eagerness of reading it in Bangla — seemed to instantly complete a circuit.”
The translation "took a little less than a year to complete. But it took more than a year and hundreds of emails, messages and cold calls to finally find a willing publisher,” Roy told the Hindustan Times (HT) on June 11. Translating Merchant’s explicit words was a challenge, Roy mentioned to HT. "In Bengali, where hardbound published books are still a bhadrolok (upper class) affair, this is still taboo. Thankfully, I didn’t receive even an iota of censorship from my publisher.” F. J.