Writer Perumal Murugan’s novel, The Story of a Goat, is a contender for this year’s National Book Award for Translated Literature, set up by The New Yorker. “Of the ten authors on the longlist for this year’s award, Murugan is the only one who has been nominated previously,” reports the magazine. In 2018, his novel One Part Woman (translated from Madhorubagan) was on the longlist. It had then sparked a controversy that forced him to declare, “The writer Perumal Murugan is dead.” The Story of a Goat was written by Perumal Murugan after he resumed his literary pursuit.
It was translated by N. Kalyan Raman and published by Grove Atlantic. “The book follows a black goat named Poonachi as she witnesses the indignities suffered by animals and humans on a farm in South India,” says The New Yorker.
Expressing happiness over the development and attributing its popularity to the groundwork done by the Tamil publisher Kannan Sundaram of Kalachuvadu, Mr. Murugan told The Hindu that he chose to populate his novel with animals as writing about human beings had landed him in trouble. “I am fearful of writing about humans; even more of writing about gods. I can write about demons, perhaps. I am even used to a demonic life. I could make it an accompaniment here,” Mr. Murugan had said in his preface to the Tamil edition of the nominated book Poonachi.
This fear is reflected in the novel. He even identifies the old man, who rears the goat Poonachi, as “a farmer who belonged to the community of asuras”. Even after deciding to write about animals, he zeroed in on goats as “they are problem-free, harmless and, above all, energetic”.
“There are only five species of animals with which I am deeply familiar. Of them, dogs and cats are meant for poetry. It is forbidden to write about cows or pigs. That leaves only goats and sheep,” he explained. The animals, especially sheep, come in handy to portray the herd mentality of human beings.
“It is not a novel meant for children. In fact, it may be the first Tamil novel about animals written for adult readers,” says Mr. Kalyan Raman in his translator’s note. “As we track the destiny of this orphan goat, shaped by a force-field of humans and animals, we realise that the author’s real theme is our own fears and longings, primordial urges and survival tactics,” he adds.