Martha Ann Selby

இந்தப் பக்கத்தை தமிழில் வாசிக்க: மார்த்தா ஆன் செல்பி ‎

Martha Ann Selby

Martha Ann Selby is an American professor of South Asian Studies and Indology. She has translated Sangam poetry into English. She is set to take up the position of Sangam Chair of South Asian Studies at Harvard University from September 1, 2022.

Education

Selby obtained her doctoral degree in Tamil and Sanskrit literature from the University of Chicago in 1994. Since then she has taught at Chicago, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and Columbia University. She joined the University of Texas faculty in 1999. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the American Institute of Indian Studies. She has also been awarded a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for the 2005–2006 academic year.

Ainkurunuru (Poems in Sangam period) Translation

Academic Contributions

Martha Ann Selby is an associate professor of South Asian studies in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. As of September 1, 2022, she will take up position as the Sangam Chair of South Asian Studies at Harvard University.

Martha Ann Selby studies classical literatures of Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Tamil. She is particularly interested in records of gynaecological practices and death in ancient literary texts and medical manuals. When she was teaching at the Radcliffe Institute, she developed an interest in Tamil Sangam poetry and translated five hundred agam poems from the corpus.

Martha Ann Selby is also interested in modern Tamil literature. She has translated writer Dilipkumar's short stories into English (Cat in the Agraharam and Other Stories).

Literary Significance

As a Tamil scholar, researcher, and translator, she has been instrumental in taking the Tamil language to the world stage.

Martha translated the Ainkurunuru into English, and published it with the title Tamil Love Poetry. This is considered a major achievement for Martha.

Owing to their extreme brevity, translating the Ainkurunooru poems is challenging for any translator. Martha Ann Selby's English translations read like modern poems. They are terse, with poignant gaps. Thus these translations are modern poems with all the graceful beauty of the classics.

According to Ravikumar, researcher and member of the Lok Sabha, "Martha Ann Selby is a Tamil scholar with extensive knowledge in old Tamil poetry and modern literature."

Books

• Grow Long, Blessed Night: Love Poems from Classical India.
• Tamil Geographies: Cultural Constructions of Space and Place in South India. (Co-editor).
• The Circle of Six Seasons: A Selection from Old Tamil, Pakrit and Sanskrit Poetry.
• Sanskrit Gynecologies: The Semiotics of Gender and Femininity in Sanskrit Medical Texts.
• Tamil Love Poetry The Five Hundred Short Poems of the Ainkurunuru.
• Cat in the Agraharam and Other Stories.

References

• Martha Selby, University of Texas Austin, Department of Asian Studies
• Congratulations to Martha Ann Selby on Prestigious Book Award!, UT Austin South Asia Institute, Jan 2014
• Martha Ann Selby, Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities, Columbia University
• Amazon- Martha Ann Selby's books
• Harvard Radcliff Institue - Fellowship/Fellows - Martha Ann Selby
• Martha Ann Selby- Dilip Kumar
• Thinabhoomi- Martha Ann Selby
• Martha Ann Selby- Professor at Harvard- Hindu Tamil
• Martha Ann Selby proficient from Sangam Poems to modern Tamil literature, Ravikumar MP
• Martha Ann Selby chosen as Sangam Chair at Harvard, Arasiyaltoday, April 2022
• Martha Ann Selby chosen as Sangam Chair at Harvard, Tamilvanakkam, April 2022

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