The legends of Khasak
This book is widely regarded as one of the finest works of magical realism among the rare Indian novels in the genre. As you read, it indeed feels magical; however, the enchantment often becomes overwhelming, making it difficult to grasp the core of the story. Khasak, the village, feels like something out of a distant dream. The author delves deeply into the lives of individual characters, using the village as a unifying thread that weaves together a diverse range of lifestyles. Through these characters, the novel explores themes of kindness, jealousy, beliefs, love, lust, hate, anger, frustration, and madness, all intricately interwoven to form the essence of the story.
Contrary to popular opinion, I struggled to enjoy the novel, primarily because it becomes difficult to comprehend as a whole. While it evokes a nostalgic, almost surreal depiction of village life, the author’s deliberately complex vocabulary makes it challenging to read. At times, it feels unnecessarily intricate and artificial. I came across a mention that the author declined a Kannada translation, fearing the story would lose its essence in another language. Instead, he translated it into English himself, possibly making it overly complex with rarely used words. Without a dictionary on hand, reading becomes an arduous task, ultimately diminishing the immersive experience of the story.
In the afterword, the author himself admits that translating the novel into English was a difficult task and that much was inevitably lost in translation. I am reminded of Kannada author Jayanta Kaykini’s observation that each language serves as a window to the world, offering a unique perspective. In this case, the perspective provided by English may not be the same as that of Malayalam, resulting in a loss of its original essence
