a father or mother; one who begets or one who gives birth to or nurtures and raises a child; a relative who plays the role of guardian. Word Family. begetter.
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He must kill his daughter, come what may, or face the consequences. It is a question of caste honour, and caste, after all, is supreme. If Pazhani does not kill his daughter, he and his family risk facing a series of terrible consequences: Bhakkiyam herself might be gang-raped by a caste mob, their house may be set on fire, their land and livelihood will be snatched from them, if they are still alive, that is.
It is a zero-sum game. When the story begins, a woman with a baby on her hips is dispensing casual advice to Pazhani on how to murder his daughter. Before we can quite recover from that, we are hurtled into the un-joy ride of the rest of book. You cannot breathe easy. For there is more to come. And then, some more.
Pethavan: The Begetter by Imayam
In her note, translator Gita Subramanian says that translating the story was a very emotional experience for her. In a case of life imitating art, Pethavan eerily anticipates the Divya-Ilavarasan affair. But perhaps it is best not to harp on this unhappy coincidence, given how common and under-reported honour killings are.
As Imayam writes in his foreword:. The translation is somewhat stilted and awkward. This is probably because of the difficulty of the text. Like many Bengali-language stories that I have read, much of the meaning of this novella is conveyed through using a local dialect, making it difficult, if not impossible, to convey effectively in English.
Definition of 'begetter'
The translator has chosen to render it into simple English, a decision that I think was the best possible under the circumstances. But the text seems a bit stilted as a result. Unfortunately these events are all too real , and happen too frequently in many parts of rural India.
The author manages to convey the terrible impact of such an attitude, both on a family and on the village as a whole. Want to see more reviews of world literature and film? This is a story of a man put in a terrible position.
His daughter has done something outrageous according to the ideas of the villagers. Pazhani, his wife, and the other wo The young girl Bhakkiyam has fallen in love with a Dalit untouchable boy, breaking caste boundaries. Pazhani, his wife, and the other women in the family have tried to change her mind for three years.
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But Bhakkiyam has held firm to her decision to marry the Dalit boy, despite being beaten nearly to death multiple times and suffering constant abuse from the members of her own family. Pazhani does not want to kill Bhakkiyam. He has already promised to do it three times and not followed through. This is the fourth time, and the villagers will not let him escape without carrying out the deed. They will come and kill Bhakkiyam themselves, and her father as well. It has reached the point where something drastic must be done. Read the rest of my review here: Jan 23, Logeshwaran M rated it it was amazing Shelves: A very short story, with a simple plot woven around complex characters.
The each member of the Pazhani family will etch a mark for themselves. This books evokes a lot of questions in the mind of the reader: Why many o A very short story, with a simple plot woven around complex characters. Why many of these norms are focused only on women? Aug 07, Sita added it. Perhaps I'm better off reading this in the original Tamil, or Telugu, which is much, much closer to Tamil than English. There's just so much dialogue that flattens itself when read in English.
The idiosyncratic narration and devices of Tamil are also incredibly difficult to translate into English. The translator notes that she decided to go for a formal English in the book as opposed to the pidgin or the "Indian English". Perhaps that makes the book easier to comprehend for the Western reader, but Perhaps I'm better off reading this in the original Tamil, or Telugu, which is much, much closer to Tamil than English.
Perhaps that makes the book easier to comprehend for the Western reader, but there is quite a lack of texture due to that reason. I am in possession of a Telugu copy that I will read - fortunately it is a very short book!
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Sep 10, Vanya Rachel rated it it was amazing. One of the most touching books I have read in a long while.