HarperCollins presents The Solitude of a Shadow

naiyya.singh@harpercollins.co.in | 13 March 2024

Presents

THE SOLITUDE OF A SHADOW

by Devibharathi

Translated from the Tamil by N. Kalyan Raman

An astutely observed narrative of our society and its overlapping hierarchies of caste, wealth and power. Describes with clarity the poverty and isolation of obsession.

2023 Sahitya Akademi Award winner Devibharathi’s first novel to be translated into English.

Translated from the Tamil by N. Kalyan Raman, who was awarded the 2022 Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize for English.

‘Taut and hypnotic.’ – Amitabha Bagchi

 ‘A compelling read.’ – Jayasree Kalathil

Published by Harper Perennial

Paperback | Fiction | 208 pp | INR 399

Releasing 13 March 2024

About the Book

When the nameless protagonist of The Solitude of a Shadow unexpectedly encounters Karunakaran after nearly three decades, he is overwhelmed by a hitherto-dormant urge to wreak vengeance upon this man who had molested his sister and abused him all those years ago.

Devibharathi’s novel – his first to be translated into English describes with painful clarity the poverty and isolation of obsession, while life flourishes all around the protagonist. Written in his trademark sharp, clear-eyed style, it is also an astutely observed narrative of our society and its overlapping hierarchies of caste, wealth and power.

Superbly translated by N. Kalyan Raman, The Solitude of a Shadow shows us how treacherous and illusory the hunger for revenge can become – with unavoidable tragic consequences.

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Author Devibharathi says, ‘The novel is an all-encompassing literary form. Scrutinizing life and transcending it through language is a challenging task. The writer must travel from the known towards the unknown. What constitutes the unknown? In my novel, I wished to talk only about the unknown. All the characters in the story – Karunakaran, Sharada, Sulo and the narrator, Rajasekaran – attempt to examine themselves. Everyone deals with life in their own way and by their own lights. Beyond good and evil, beyond right and wrong, what really happens?’

Kalyan Raman, translator of The Solitude of a Shadow says, ‘A superbly crafted novel on the doomed trajectory of vengeance. With every story, Devibharathi invents a language that suits the material. And he never writes the same story twice. Following his craft as a translator has been both challenging and exhilarating. This book is a product of that adventure.’

 Rahul Soni, Associate Publisher – Literary, HarperCollins India says, ‘What could have been a simple tale of vengeance becomes, in Devibharathi’s hands, an exploration of the nature of obsession, the hollowness of revenge, and the inequalities of our society. N. Kalyan Raman’s translation is superbly attentive to tone and voice, and to the gradually ratcheting tension of the story. A gripping, disquieting work that will linger in your mind.’

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 Praise for The Solitude of a Shadow

 ‘Small town India comes alive with menace in this taut, hypnotic novel of humiliation and revenge. N. Kalyan Raman’s translation is a pleasure to read.’ – Amitabha Bagchi

‘Devibharathi tells a complex story of love and revenge in a crisp, nuanced language. N. Kalyan Raman’s exquisite translation matches his literary craft, marked by its simplicity as well as the slow rise in tempo.

A compelling read.’ – Jayasree Kalathil

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 About the Author and the Translator

 Devibharathi (b. 1957) was born and raised in a small village in western Tamil Nadu, the second of five children in a schoolmaster’s family. He has worked as a political activist, government employee, journalist, managing editor of a leading literary magazine, and scriptwriter for television programmes. During a writing career spanning more than forty years, Devibharathi has published two collections of short stories, two novellas, four novels, a play, and two non-fiction anthologies containing essays and memoirs. Farewell, Mahatma, a collection of short stories in English translation, was published in 2014. Nizhalin Thanimai, the original of The Solitude of a Shadow, is his first novel. His fiction has received wide attention and praise from Tamil readers and critics. He has received several awards, including the inaugural Tannaram Literary Award in 2021, and the Kalaignar Porkizhi and Sahitya Akademi awards in 2023. He lives and works in a village in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruppur district.

Kalyan Raman is a translator of contemporary Tamil fiction and poetry into English. Over the past twenty-five years, he has published translations of fourteen works of Tamil fiction by important writers such as Ashokamitran, Poomani, Devibharathi, Perumal Murugan, Vaasanthi and Salma. His translations of contemporary Tamil poets have been published widely in journals and anthologies in India and abroad. Kalyan Raman also writes on cinema, politics and literature for leading journals and magazines in India. His translation of Perumal Murugan’s Poonachi was shortlisted for the inaugural JCB Prize (2018), longlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature (2020) and won the Sahitya Akademi’s Translation Prize (English) in 2022. In 2017, he received the prestigious Pudumaipithan Award for his contribution to the cause of Tamil literature through his translations. He lives and works in Chennai.