Title: Balzac saha Cheena Yovun Sannaliya
Translator: SenarathnaWeerasinghe
Prabha Publishers, Veyangoda
Price: Rs 850
Balzac saha Cheena Yovun Sannaliya is the authentic Sinhala translation of Dai Sijie’s popular novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. The enchanting story is about the magic of reading and the wonder of romantic awakening.
The thrilling incidents of the story take place in a remote mountain village in China. It was the time for re-education during China’s infamous Cultural Revolution.
Two city boys had been sent to the mountain village for re-education. They meet the daughter of the local tailor and they discover a large collection of Western classics translated into Chinese. Being young and romantic, the two youths flirt with the tailor’s daughter. However, they begin to read the Western classics avidly. By reading them they discovered new worlds they had never visited.
Readers may be aware of the Cultural Revolution in China when Mao was ruling the country. In fact, the author Sijie himself was re-educated before he moved to France where he wrote the novel.
The story gives the reader a fleeting glimpse into the incidents that happened in that long forgotten era. The author has been successful in recreating the magical feel of the characters in the novel. While the Chinese seamstress was engaged in her job, the two boys underwent re-education. Balzac, the protagonist, plays a vital role in the novel. The West has been depicted as a land of magic and awe. Some time ago even Western authors too thought that the East was a land of magic.
The situation has not changed even in the 21stcentury in which most people in the East still believe that the west is a land of opportunity and charm.
It may be the reason that most of us who live in eastern countries try to move into western countries.
The two young men and the seamstress develop a love for books and they are highly taken up by the adventures described therein. This indirectly suggests that the Chinese government at that time was preventing young people from reading Western Classics. As a result most adventurous young people smuggled books for their own pleasure.
The translator has captured the inner meaning of the novel vividly and written his story to present a world we are not familiar with.
The Chinese Cultural Revolution and Mao’s re-education programme did not appeal to the youth who were seeking adventures in unknown worlds. After reading the novel you will be left with a bitter sweet memory of the young Chinese seamstress. Reviewed by R.S. Karunaratne
