Sara Rai

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Sara Rai (Allahabad 2018)

Sara Rai (born September 15, 1956 in Allahabad ) is an Indian writer who writes her works mainly in Hindi . She is also an award-winning translator (into Hindi, Urdu and English ) and editor of several anthologies with Hindi stories. Rai lives in Prayagraj and New Delhi .

Life

Sara Rai completed her first master's degree in Modern History in 1978 at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and three years later received her Master's degree in English Literature from the University of Allahabad . Sara Rai is the granddaughter of Dhanpat Rai Shrivastava (1880–1936), better known as Premchand , who is considered to be the pioneer of modern Hindi literature. Her father, the critic and painter Shripat Rai (1916-1994), was the editor of the literary magazine Kahaani (edited between 1937-39 and 1953-79), in which many authors of the Nayi Kahani (Nayī Kahānī) movement, including Nirmal Verma , published their short stories.

Literary work

Sara Rai published her first volume of Hindi short stories in 1997 under the title Abaabil ki uraan ( Flight of the Swallow). Biyabaan mein (In the wild) followed in 2005 . Her first and so far only novel was published in 2010 under the title Cheelwali kothi (The Milanese House). Another volume with mostly already published stories was published in 2015 under the title Bhulbhulaiyan (Labyrinth).

Like her friend and literary friend Geetanjali Shree ( Mai ), Sara Rai represents a generation of Indian authors who integrate various influences from European, American and Indian literature into their work. In addition to the nostalgic memory of times gone by, Rai also addresses the ambiguity of contemporary developments in India. A characteristic of Rai's writing is her flexible use of different registers of the so-called Hindustani : Depending on the background of the protagonists, Urdu, sometimes Hindi vocabulary predominates.

Publications

Fictional works

  • 2015 Bhulbhulaiyan , Bikaner: Surya Prakashan Mandir.
  • 2010 Cheelwali kothi (cīlvālī koṭhī), Delhi: Harper Hindi. Rpt 2015. Delhi: Rajkamal Prakashan.
  • 2005 Biyabaan Mein (biyābān meṃ), Delhi: Rajkamal Prakashan.
  • 1997 Abaabeel ki udaan (abābīl kī uṛān), Delhi: Rajkamal Prakashan.

Editorships

  • 2019 Blue Is Like Blue: Stories by Vinod Kumar Shukla , trans. and ed. by Sara Rai and Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Delhi: HarperCollins.
  • 2013 Premchand's Kazaki and other Marvelous Tales , trans. and ed. by Sara Rai, Delhi: Book Mine, Hachette India.
  • 2003 Hindi. Handpicked Fictions , trans. and ed. by Sara Rai, Delhi: Katha.
  • 2000 Babbarsingh and His Friends. Novella for Children by Shrilal Shukla, trans. and ed. by Sara Rai, Delhi: Scholastic India.
  • 1999 Imaging the Other , trans. and ed. by Sara Rai and with GJV Prasad, Delhi: Katha.
  • 1996 Bohlu and Golu. Novella for Children by Pankaj Bisht , trans. and ed. by Sara Rai, Delhi: National Book Trust of India.
  • 1990 The Golden Waistchain , trans. and ed. by Sara Rai, Delhi: Penguin.

Selected essays and short stories

  • 2013 "Reading Godaan" (essay), in: Sebastian and Siddan (ed.): 50 Writers 50 Books. Delhi: Harper Collins.
  • 2011 "Vagabond Beneath the Stars" by Gyanranjan (translated from Hindi), in: Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (ed.): The Last Bungalow: Writings on Allahabad . Delhi: Penguin.
  • 2003 "Our Small World" by Sara Rai (translated from Hindi), in: Sara Rai (ed.): Hindi Handpicked Fictions . Delhi: Katha.
  • 1979 "Realism as a Creative Process: Features of Munshi Premchand's Ideology" (essay), in: Social Scientist, Delhi.

German translations by Sara Rai

  • In the labyrinth. Stories. Translation from the Hindi and afterword by Johanna Hahn. Draupadi Verlag, Heidelberg, 2019.
  • "Labyrinth" (story), in: Johanna Hahn: "In der Wildnis". Commented translation and interpretation of modern Hindi short stories by Sara Rai . Regiospectra Verlag, Berlin, 2013, pp. 11–30.
  • "At the edge" (story), in: Johanna Hahn: "In der Wildnis". Commented translation and interpretation of modern Hindi short stories by Sara Rai. Regiospectra Verlag, Berlin, 2013, pp. 31–55.
  • "Amarvallari" (story), in: Johanna Hahn: "In der Wildnis". Commented translation and interpretation of modern Hindi short stories by Sara Rai . Regiospectra Verlag, Berlin, 2013, pp. 57–65.
  • "The bridge from nowhere to nowhere" (story), in: Johanna Hahn: "In der Wildnis". Commented translation and interpretation of modern Hindi short stories by Sara Rai. Regiospectra Verlag, Berlin, 2013, pp. 67–77.
  • "Walls" (story), in: Ulrike Stark (ed.): Walls and windows. New stories from India . Draupadi Verlag, Heidelberg, 2006, pp. 11-22.

Honourings and prices

  • 2019: Coburg Rückert Prize
  • 2000: AK Ramanujan Award
  • 1997: Katha Translation Award
  • 1993: Katha Translation Award

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rai has received the Katha Translation Award (1997, 2003) and the AK Ramanujan Award (2000) twice.
  2. ↑ a b Johanna Hahn: "In the wilderness". Commented translation and interpretation of modern Hindi short stories by Sara Rai. Regiospectra Verlag, Berlin 2013, p. 151 .
  3. ↑ Nikhil Govind: Nayi Kahani. In: Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism. Routledge, May 9, 2016, accessed November 14, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Geetanjali Shree: May . Draupadi Verlag, Heidelberg 2010.
  5. ↑ Johanna Hahn: "In the wilderness". Commented translation and interpretation of modern Hindi short stories by Sara Rai. Regiospectra Verlag, Berlin 2013, p. 93-96 .
  6. ↑ Sara Rai receives Coburg Rückert Prize. In: inFranken.de. February 11, 2019, accessed on February 18, 2019 (German).
personal data
SURNAME Rai, Sara
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian writer
DATE OF BIRTH September 15, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Allahabad