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INTERVIEW

Revisiting ‘Talaash’ with Shaheen Akhtar and Seung Hee Jeon
DESIGN: Sarah Anjum Bari
On November 1, 2020, author Shaheen Akhtar was awarded the 3rd Asian Literary Award for the Korean translation of her 2004 novel Talaash —which traces the lives of Birangona women decades after the 1971 Liberation War. We spoke to Shaheen Akhtar and translator Seung Hee Jeon about their writing process and the book’s legacy.
Sarah Bari/ Star Books: Most of us are familiar with Talaash and its critical acclaim. For yourself as a reader and author, how has Talaash evolved over time?
Shaheen Akhtar: Honestly, Talaash has grown a bit distant to me. It was published 16 years ago in 2004. I finished writing it even before that. I actually wanted to create a distance between the novel and myself—I haven’t written about the liberation war since 2004 and writing Talaash triggered a lot of trauma in me. I wanted to erase the subject from my mind.
Of course, I never expected the kind of acclaim it received upon publication and it was back then that I tried to re-read the book through the eyes of readers or critics. Naturally I wanted to change some things.
But the Asian Literary Award came as the real surprise. By then, Seung Hee Jeon had gotten in touch with me in 2016, having read the English translation of the book, The Search (Zubaan Books, 2011). I was touched by her interest because Seung Hee’s country also has a terrifying history of war, particularly the experiences of the “comfort women” who were tortured at the hands of Japanese imperial forces during the Second World War—just like the Birangona women of our own country.
I was elated to think that Talaash was able to capture the emotions of the Korean people. I could see how the characters stepped out of their borders, and exchanged places with the female victims of a war that took place almost 25 years ago, in another frontier of Asia. We could hear it resonate with the jury of the Asia Literary Awards.
SB : How and why did you decide to translate The Search into Korean?
Seung Hee Jeon: I grew up in South Korea, a country that, ever since my birth, and until today, has been struggling with the legacies of colonialism and the enormous influence of superpowers. One might even attribute the wonderful liveliness of South Korean society today, such as K-culture and its successful industries, partially to the energy of trauma survivors.
So, as a student and scholar of literature, I wrote my dissertation on the search for truth by female war-survivors through creative writing, what might aptly be called “docu-fiction”. Soon it was clear to me that belonging in a minority group or colonised nation brings one a different perspective on the experience of war. This realisation led me to Asian literature, as I believe most third-world countries share a common history of modern colonisation by powerful nations.
In 2006, I had the opportunity to serve as an editorial board member for a bilingual Asian literature quarterly, published in Korea, Asia . And I encountered The Search . I was immediately absorbed in it: its stories sound so familiar and were so moving in the author’s superb mastery of literary techniques, which were both so personal, and yet historical and typical, tragic and farcical at the same time. As a literary translator, I felt that I had to make it available to Korean readers.
Read the entire interview online on The Daily Star’s website, and on the Daily Star Books Facebook and Instagram pages.
Sarah Anjum Bari