The Book of Desire
“This classic, singing so freely of love and desire, has finally found the right translator — a poet who burns with as much fire as the ancients did.”
A luminous translation of the Kāmattu-p-pāl, the 2,000-year-old song of love and desire that forms the third part of Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural — one of the most important texts in Tamil literature. The most intimate section of the work is also, historically, the most heavily censored. Hundreds of men have translated it; only one woman had done so before.
Meena Kandasamy’s feminist reclamation takes the reader through 250 kurals, under headings such as “The Pleasure of Sex”, “Renouncing Shame” and “The Delights of Sulking”: a translation that fizzes with energy and delight, and speaks with force about female sensuality, agency and desire. It is a revolution two thousand years in the making.
“Transcendent … One of the most startling treats among January’s releases.” — The Independent
“Precise and passionate … beautiful and resonant.” — The Irish Times
“Electrifying and iridescent — Meena Kandasamy’s translations of the Thirukkural sear the page.” — Tishani Doshi
“Achingly gorgeous. Both a revelation and a complete pleasure.” — Clare Pollard
Listen to Meena Kandasamy with Adam Biles on the Shakespeare and Company podcast, and read Anahit Behrooz’s review in The Skinny.