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Malayalam
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Madhavikutty
(b. 1932) is the pen-name adopted by Kamala Das in her Malayalam
writings. Though internationally renowned for her spirited poems
in English, Kamala Das nee Madhavikutty has penned some brilliant
short stories in her mother tongue. Her pseudonym represents the
more intense and confessional self of this feminist writer. Her
stories first appeared on the Malayalam literary scene in the
1950s, and later more frequently, in the sixties. She unleashed
in them the pent-up world of female urges, frustrations and wild
sexual fantasies, thus exposing the raw side of human identity.
Madhavikutty's focus has always been on the tormented female self
craving for love, but doomed to be cheated, exploited and abandoned.
She replaced the self-pity that was a staple element of conventional
women's stories with a subversive, vengeful imagination that demythified
love, sex and even death. Her principal works include Naricheerukal
Parakkumbol (When Bats Fly, 1960), Thanuppu (Cold,
1967), Madhavikuttiyude Kathakal (The Short Stories of
Madhavikutty, 1982), and Neypayasam (Rice Pudding, 1991)
and Ente Katha (My Story).
T.
Padmanabhan (b. 1931), a distinguished short-story writer
in Malayalam, has been writing since 1948, except for a brief
period between 1963 to 1969. He has been credited with bringing
the modern Malayalam short story nearer to the subjective intensity
of the lyric. Many of his works have been translated into various
Indian and foreign languages. It was when the short story reached
a saturation point as a result of the repeated depiction of romantic
idealism and social commitment that T. Padmanabhan emerged on
the scene with a unique and highly individualistic idiom. Among
his major works are Prakasam Parathunna Oru Penkutti (A
Girl Who Spreads Radiance, 1955), Oru Kathakrittu Kurishil
(A Story writer on the Cross, 1956), Makhan Singhinte Maranam
(The Death of Makhan Singh, 1958) , Kala Bhairavan and
Gouri (1993).
O.
V. Vijayan (b. 1931) is undoubtedly the pioneer of modern
fiction in Malayalam. A cartoonist, novelist and short-story writer,
Vijayan has to his credit five novels, including Khasakkinte
Itihasam (The Saga of Khasak, 1969), Dharmapuranam
(The Saga of Dharmapuri, 1985) and Pravachakante Vazhi
(The Way of the Prophet, 1993) besides many collections of short
stories and articles and a book on his own masterpiece, Itihasathinte
Itihasam (The Story of the Saga). Vijayan who started his
career as lecturer in Kerala, soon opted for full-time journalism
and making cartoons.
M.
T. Vasudevan Nair (b. 1933), the famous Malayalam story-writer,
novelist and editor has to his credit a number of fine films as
well: he has written the script for a number of outstanding films
besides having directed a few. Winner of several awards including
the Jnanpith, Vasudevan nair, popularly known as M. T., burst
into the literary scene with his maiden work, Nalukettu
(the ancestral home of a Nair joint family), followed by Asuravithu
(Asuravittu; Demon's seed: the son born to undo the family). The
latter novel, written in a prose with poetic quality, bears the
stamp of his genius, his mastery in subtle delineation of characters
with great psychological insight.
Thakazhi
Sivasankara Pillai (b. 1912) started off as a small-town lawyer
but took to full time writing later and won himself the Sahitya
Akademi Award (1957), Soviet Land-Nehru Award (1975) and
Jnanpith Award (1984). His Chemmeen (The Shrimps) is one
of the few works of fiction in an Indian language to gain worldwide
recognition. The novel has been translated in all the major Indian
languages and also in quite a few foreign languages. The film
version of Chemmeen received the President's Gold Medal
in 1966.
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