‘I just have to be myself’
Geetanjali Shree, prominent in Hindi literature for her five novels, two shortstory collections and biography of Munshi Premchand, made history when her novel Ret Samadhi, translated into English as Tomb of Sand by Daisy Rockwell, won the 2022 International Booker Prize for Translated Fiction
The Booker website states: “Tomb of Sand is the first book originally written in any Indian language to win the International Booker Prize, and the first novel translated from Hindi to be recognized by the award.” The novel is epic in its scale, narrating the story of an 80-year-old Partition survivor who makes the journey from India to Pakistan to revisit her roots. It pays tribute to the finest Partition writers from the subcontinent, including Krishna Sobti, Bhisham Sahni, Balwant Singh, Joginder Pal, Saadat Hasan Manto, Rahi Masoom Raza, Intizar Hussain, Khushwant Singh and Rajinder Singh Bedi.
The prize money of £50,000 (about Rs 48.60 lakh) will be shared equally by the author and the translator. The novel, which has been called “the finest single work of fiction from around the world which has been translated into English and published in the UK and Ireland” was first published in Hindi in 2018 by Rajkamal Prakashan. Rockwell’s English translation was published in 2021 by Tilted Axis Press, a non-profit publisher in the UK. Here, Shree answers a few quick questions about the win.
What was it like to be in London, receiving the International Booker Prize in person?
The shortlisted authors and translators were summoned to London for a couple of events that preceded the one where the final decision was announced. So there was, not just for me, a degree of uncertainty. The announcement came as a bolt from the blue. A nice one. Actually, it felt like a nice bolt when the book was longlisted, also when it was shortlisted, and, finally, when it was chosen.
Did you anticipate that Ret Samadhi would get the kind of love and adulation and prize money that it has received? What are you doing to keep yourself grounded amid all this?
Not once in the 30-odd years of writing do I remember the shadow of its likely reception falling on my fiction. It feels good if some love and appreciation – not adulation - also come. But then so does criticism bordering on dismissal. Prize money? Let alone prize money, is it possible to create literature in anticipation of even awards? Nothing special is required to remain grounded. I just have to be myself.
Tell us about your association with Rajkamal Prakashan, and why you chose them. Do you think your Booker win will now help bring more attention to Hindi literature?
I began in the 1980s with writing short stories. The first three of these were published in Hans, the prominent monthly edited by Rajendra Yadav. When the first collection of my short stories was ready, it was natural that I should try my luck with Rajkamal, the most prominent and respectable Hindi publishing house. Shiela Sandhu accepted the manuscript. That relationship has continued since. Regarding more attention getting directed to Hindi literature following the Booker, judging by the ways of the international book trade, that seems a realistic scenario.
Why does Partition, as a historical event, continue to draw the attention of fiction writers? What made you engage with it? Who are some of your favourite Partition writers?
Because, sadly, the event still persists across the border. Because it persists in its deadliest manifestations. All of my favourite writers on the Partition come alive in the pages of Ret Samadhi.
What are your thoughts on the other books that were on the International Booker shortlist?
I specifically stated in my acceptance speech that my book was but one among six outstanding recent works of fiction.
How would you describe the experience of being translated by Daisy Rockwell? How has your relationship with her evolved?
It was a mutually rewarding experience. Very exacting and demanding, but astonishingly harmonious. Almost till we met faceto-face in London, it had been a professional relationship. To that is now added the warmth of friendship.
Ret Samadhi
Which other languages will
be translated into? Have you received any offers to adapt it into a film or television series?
I can’t presently say anything concrete about translations. I have had no offers from the world of cinema and serials.
How was your worldview as a novelist shaped by your education at Lady Shri Ram College and JNU?
LSR was a “proper” women’s college, which is what it was supposed to be. JNU was liberating and enabling. Both experiences have differently influenced the way I think about the world.