Who tried to translate the novel Henrietta Temple written by Benjamin Disraeli ? Why did the translator gave up the idea of translating English novel ? What was written by him thereafter ?
O. Chandu Menon, a subjudge from Malabar tried to translate the English novel Henrietta Temple written by Benjamin Disraeli into Malayalam. He gave up the idea due to reasons as mentioned below He realised that his readers in Kerala w’ere not familiar with the way in which the characters in English novels lived : their clothes, way of speaking and manners were unknown to them. They would find a direct translation of an English novel dreadfully boring. So he gave up this idea and wrote instead a story in Malayalam in the ‘manner of English book novels’. His novel Indulekha published in 1889, was the first modern novel in Malayalam.
