All William Shakespeare's plays translated into Punjabi over 20 years

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All William Shakespeare's plays translated into Punjabi over 20 years

All William Shakespeare's plays translated into Punjabi over 20 years - Telegraph

A retired English professor in India has finished translating all 38 of William Shakespeare's plays into Punjabi after 20 years, being paid just 50p a day.

Last month Surjit Hans, an 82-year-old former Heathrow postman finished the last translation of the works – Henry VIII – to complete his project.

He began work on the project in 1993 after retiring from his post at Punjabi University Patiala by translating Othello. He had developed a love of Shakespeare as a student at Hoshiarpur's Punjab University in 1953 where he was taught by Professor Dinah Stock who staged the bard's plays. He had played the role of Seyton in her Macbeth in 1953 and later Laertes in Hamlet. He translated and staged Macbeth in Punjabi, a dialect of Hindi and Urdu, in 1954 and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company club when he moved to Southall in 1965 before returning to India in 1972.
His Macbeth translation inspired him to press ahead with all Shakespeare's plays after his retirement in 1993.

Some of the bard's comedies and tragedies appeal more to Punjabis – often caricatured in India as boisterous and flashy, the subcontinent's Essex man – than others, he said. He believes the complicated relationships and different types of love in the comedy As you like it and the abuse and persecution of the elderly King Lear would resonate most with a Punjabi audience, he said. "Because of the unfortunate way we treat the elderly, they are thrown out of their homes by poor families," he explained.

Translating Richard III was "painful" to him, he said, because it's one of his least favourite Shakespearean plays, though he believes its theme of sibling rivaly would strike a chord with Punjabis:"It reminds people here of the civil war between the sons of Shah Jahan – Aurangzeb and Dara Shikoh," he said. Aurangzeb, an Islamic fundamentalist, locked up his liberal father, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, and served him the head of his defeated brother Dara Shikoh on a plate.

He said while most interest in Shakespeare in India is confined to the country's English-speaking elite, he believes there will be a great demand for his works from ordinary Punjabis who do not speak English.

"There is quite a number who do now know English, and to my mind they deserve Shakespeare," he said.

 

W.G.Ewald

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Re: All William Shakespeare's plays translated into Punjabi over 20 ye

Some of the bard's comedies and tragedies appeal more to Punjabis – often caricatured in India as boisterous and flashy, the subcontinent's Essex man – than others, he said.
Meaning of "Essex man" in article.

Essex man - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nothing to do with Elizabeth I's ill-fated boyfriend.

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG PC (10 November 1565[1] Р25 February 1601) was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599. In 1601 he led an abortive coup d'̩tat against the government and was executed for treason.
 

amoy

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Awesome Mr Hans. But do I get it correct he was a postman?

Restaging Shakespeare's plays in a modern or an indigenous context perhaps appeal to audiences nowadays more like what Leonardo did to Romeo.

Recently I saw a movie Hamlet. His father, this time the owner of a mega corporation DAN is murdered by Hamlet's uncle...

Lust and greed constant themes.

Sent from my 5910 using Tapatalk 2
 

blueblood

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Re: All William Shakespeare's plays translated into Punjabi over 20 ye

Awesome Mr Hans. But do I get it correct he was a postman?

Restaging Shakespeare's plays in a modern or an indigenous context perhaps appeal to audiences nowadays more like what Leonardo did to Romeo.

Recently I saw a movie Hamlet. His father, this time the owner of a mega corporation DAN is murdered by Hamlet's uncle...

Lust and greed constant themes.

Sent from my 5910 using Tapatalk 2
Then I suggest you to watch Indian adaptations of Macbeth and Othello.

Maqbool - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Omkara (2006 film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

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