A unique act of love and solidarity

When poetry is translated, some, like Scottish novelist and historian James Buchan, wonder, "Is there any purpose to translating poetry? A poem does not contain information of importance, like a signpost or a warning notice".

- Nishtha Gautam

The poetry in question here is Paul Celan's works, perhaps the most difficult written in any language. On the other hand, there is the argument that translated poetry expands the sensory and intellectual horizons of the target audience. Both these arguments can also be made about writing poetry in the first place.

Much as we'd like to hail Shelley's charged proclamation, "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world", the fact is, as Buchan stated in his review of Ian Fairley's translation of Celan's last collection of poetry, "nothing so very dreadful will happen to you" if you didn't understand poetry.

Not understanding legislation, however, may have hazardous consequences. Any translation of poetry, therefore, ought to be assessed with the understanding that it serves a limited utilitarian purpose. What is well-served, however, is the Socratic pursuit of knowledge.

A lot has been said about women writing women, less so about women translating women. The latter is a unique act of love and solidarity. Why Rakhshanda Jalil, literary historian and translator, chose to translate