Qaisaer Saleem is a veteran and known fiction writer. He is a busy penman and constantly creating short stories, novels, satiric essays as well as doing translation. Qaiser Saleem has written eight novels and has two collections of short stories to his credit.
He has also written three travelogues. 'Amriki Betian Islam Ki Rah Per' and 'Dopahria Dhoop Kay Sang' are his translation efforts, which have been translated from English to Urdu. Now his lengthy translation work 'Muntakhab Alami Afsanay' has seen the light of the day having 43 short stories of 34 countries. It covers almost all the notable languages and countries' short fictions. France America, Russia, Britain, Palestine, Israel, Canada, Australia, Italy, South Africa, India, Bangladesh and Nepal are some names from which Qaiser Saleem has chosen stories for translation.
It is generally considered that translation works make second grade effort. To some extent, it may be so, but the fact remains that the significance of translation can hardly be belittled.
It is not possible for a man to know all the languages of the world and to be acquainted with the civilisation, tradition, culture, way of thinking, progress of education, science and literature of different parts of the globe. But it is possible for a person to be well acquainted with the values related to the nations and communities through translated works.
'Muntakhab Aalami Afsanay' is the third translation work of Qaiser Saleem. His translation works have gained much popularity. The appreciation has encouraged him to continue with translations along with the original creative works. That is the reason he has come up with his new and weighty translation work.
The book under review is not only a collection of various writers' short stories but it is a collection of many civilisations and cultures.
It is also mirroring the political, social, economic and religious values and behaviours of the concerned peoples.
Keeping in view this phenomenon, Qaiser Saleem has shown his grasp on both English and Urdu languages. These are written in the modern style and are without any concrete plots. These kinds of short pieces are called plot-less in the literary term and are popular in modern age.
The first short story of the book is 'Shegaf' (Breach) written by Mauro Senesi of Italy. It is the tale of nurses of church and masons. It is full of mysterious events. 'Barish' (Rain) is an imaginative story and to some extent a sensational one.
It is written by Merce Rodoredain in the Spanish language. 'Khanay Kay Liye Helak Kardo' (Kill to eat) is underlining the importance of principle. It is also highlighting the loss of breaking any specific limit. The creator of this story is Ootgeroo Nunukul an Aussie. 'Skool Kay Ba'ad'(After School) is also an Australian short story written by Roma O'Brien. It has only two characters --mother and her school going daughter.
Mother is very conscious, wise and far-sighted woman but the daughter is a restless and fickle in nature. The family seems to be from the lower middle class. She demands from her mother one dollar for the next day.
Qaiser Saleem has very successfully showed his effort to give the real essence, taste and tune.
These are not only high grade literary pieces but it is also an undeniable fact that the writers of these short stories have successfully penetrated the themes and events of short fictions with reference to their local environment. The author has proved well that he has good capacity to transfer that very soul, original qualities, temperament of characters and environment during translation.
Qaiser Saleem is a human-loving person. So wherever he sees any human problem such as exploitation, injustice, inhuman attitude, social and economic suppression, irresponsibility and lawlessness, he tries to mirror and pinpoint all these shortcomings and loopholes. The book under review is evidence of this phenomenon. This has played main role in the selection of stories for translation.
The definition and expression of sentiment, details of environment and particulars, dialogues as well as description of scenes and scenery are compact and impressive. The translator has tried his best to keep the foreign short fictions close to the original spirit, theme and style.
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