Ten Best Tamil Novels
M. Sundaramoorthy
Indian novels, short story writers etc. He introduced this culture in
'kanaiyaazhi', which used to publish lists of 'ten best' novels from the
readers.
I thought we can also post such lists on the net such that
we can get to know about many works that we didn't get chance to read.
I believe this will be a good information exchange exercise and will
eventually lead to a healthy discussion on contemporary literature. We
shall add another feature to the list. Give a brief information about
the novel, the writer and his/her other works also. I start with my
list and request others to post their 'best ten's.
(1). naaLai maRRumoru naaLE (Cre-A books, Madras) - G. Nagarajan
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This is the only novel he wrote, apart from few short stories. The story
deals with 'one day' life and experiences of a 'vibacharath tharagan',
Kandhan. In the course of narrating his one day life from morning till
evening, his association with many people, like prostitutes, policemen,
petty shop owner etc. is dealt. Each chapter discusses about the person
he meets on that day and his association with him/her and reads by itself
a very good short story. At the end of the day he is arrested for a
murder committed by some one else. Nagarajan was a high school teacher
and later indulged in many 'immoral' acts like, drinking, going to
prostitutes etc. His personal life, though very tragic, and his
association with literary groups produced one of the best writers in
Tamil. He was helped during miserable days at the end of his life by
people ranging from prostitutes to respected professors.
(2). kadalpuraththil (Narmadhaa padhippagam, Madras) - Vannanilavan
--------------------------------------------------------------------
This deals with the life of fishermen community of the coastal Tamil Nadu.
It discusses the misery of their life, uncertainity of their return when
they venture in the sea etc. The love of a youth Das and Pilomina, whose
families are in feud, is interwoven in a very subtle manner. Apparantly
this novel was made into a successful TV serial recently. This depicts
the life and culture of fishermen more effectively than the much
celebrated novel, 'chemmeen' of Thakazhi Sivasankaran Pillai (Malayalam),
which is merely a romantic novel according to critics. Vannanilavan's
other works include 'reynis iyar theru' (novel), and 'dharmam' (short story
collection).
(3). oru puLiya marththin kathai (Cre-A books, Madras) - Sundara Ramaswamy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is Sundara Ramswamy's first novel and was partly serialised in
'Saraswathi' in 60s. It is a very good depiction of social, cultural,
religious, commercial and political changes in the erstwhile 'Thiruvaankoor
samasthaanam'. The story 'revolves' around an age old tamarind tree and
its eventual removal and describes the developements related to that.
Sundara Ramaswamy's second novel 'J.J. cila kuRippugal' written in 70s, was
the most criticised novel (with either extreme opinions) in modern
Tamil literature. His other works include 'natunici naaygal' (poetry
collection, pen name: Basuvaiah), 'paLLam' (short story colection),
'Sundara Ramasamy katturaikaL'. He currently edits a quarterly literary
magazine 'kaalachchuvadu'.
(4). maamicap padaippu (Annam books, Sivagangai) - Nanjil Naadan
----------------------------------------------------------------
This particular novel is about a peasant Kandaiah who transforms a piece
of wasteland into a formland. In this process he antogonises the village
chief (or land lords), because of his 'rebelious' nature. He falls a victim
at the hands of the local land lord and is muredered when he is about to
reap the benefits of his hard work. His death is interpreted as a result
of his act of angering the folk God who reside in that land. Class conflict
is narrated in a very subtle way. Naanjil Naadan usually writes short
stories and novels set in Naanjil(Kanyakumari) region, except one novel,
'midhavai', which is about the struggle of an unemployed youth from rural
Kanyakumari trying his fortunes in Bombay. His other works are
'thalaikeezh vigithangaL' (novel), 'enbilathanai' (novel), 'dheyvangaL,
OnaaygaL, aadugaL' and 'vaakkup poRukkigaL' (both short story
collections). Though the themes are more common to any part of Tamil
Nadu, his stories are unique in exposing the Naanjil region culture to
the readers.
(5). ERkanave collappatta manidhargaL (Kaavya Books, Bangalore)- Tamilavan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is an experimental novel by Tamilavan with the style of Magical
Realism ('maaya yatharththavavaatham' in Tamil). Inspired by the works of
Garcia Gabriel Marquez, Tamilavan attempted the new 'story telling
techinque' with the myths, beliefs and customs of Tamil culture. (I am
planning to post a reveiw of this book soon). Tamilavan is a Reader in
Tamil at Bangalore University. He currently edits the quarterly journal
'mElum'. He wrote a book on 'Structuralism' in Tamil and introduced
structuralist criticism in Tamil literature. His recent book is
'padaippum padaippaaLiyum', a collection of critical essays.
(6). ammaa vandhaaL ( AinthiNaip Pathippagam, Madras) - Thi.Janakiraman
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Since I haven't read Thi. Janakiraman's 'mOgamuL', supposedly the best
novel ever written in Tamil, I consider 'ammaa vandhaaL' his best.
This novel attempts to break the image of 'mother as a Godess',
the moralists try to establish. Mother is also an ordinary human being
with good and bad qualities like any one else. This novel is about a
middle class brahmin family in which all the children get education and
lead 'modern' life, except one. He is sent to learn Vedas at the behest
of his mother. She was involved in extra-marital affair and she believes
she can get rid of her sins by her son's learning of Vedas, which is
revealed at the end. His novel 'marappacu' has been translated into
English as 'Wooden cow', by Lakshmi Kannan.
(7). gOpalla giraamam (Annam Books, Sivagangai) - Ki. Rajanarayanan
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the only true historical novel in Tamil in my opinion (I will
write on this aspect later). It is a story of mass migration of Telugu
people to Tamil Nadu during Nizams rule in Andhra. The story discusses
the reason for their migration and their settlement in the Karisal region
(Tirunelveli) of Tamil Nadu and life of the people, till the arrival of
British. The synthesis of culture, customs, developement of land for
cultivation etc. in the new place are discussed in a very interesting
style by the author, known for his narrative power of rural life. However,
the second volume which was serialised in Ananda vikatan, 'gOpallpuraththu
makkaL', is not very impressive. His short story collections are 'vEtti',
'kidai', and 'koththaip paruththi' and has compiled few volumes of folk
tales, a dictionary of Tirunelveli dialect, 'vattaara vazhakkuc collagaraadhi'
Basically a farmer, he redesigned a more efficient bullock-cart in
collaboration with his village carpenter.
(8). existentialisamum fancy baniyanum (Chilek kuyil, Kumbakonam) -
Charu Nivedita
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Came as a shock to the moralist writers and critics, even among the so
called serious writers. This new novel by the critic Charu Nivedita (his
new pen name is Muniyaandi) is an experiment in Tamil both in form and
content. There are three kinds of narrative styles employed and two sides
of an 'intellecutal' exposed. This is an attempt to break the halo of an
'intellecual', which was glorified in Sundara Ramasamy's 'J.J. cila
kuRippugaL'. Even the size and cover of the book are unusually in the form
of the popular "pocket novel".
(9). vekkai ( ??, Madras) - Poomani
-----------------------------------
Poomani is one of the best Karisal writers (most of them employ socialist
realism). The novel is about the plight of a teen age son of a peasant who
tries to escape from the police, after unsuccessfully attemptng to murder
a 'Ginning mill' owner in the village. The novel is very powerful in its
narration. The boy moves arround the hills, farms, nearby villages etc.
before surrendering to the police. Poomani's other novels include 'piRagu',
and 'naivEththiyam'.
(10). oru kadalOra giraamththin kadhai (Jameela pathippagam, Tirunelveli) -
Thoppil Mohamad Meeraan
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This debute novel of Mohamad Meeraan, which won him the 'Tamil Nadu Kalai
Ilakkiyap PerumanRam's prize for 1989, is the story of a coastal muslim
village early this century. This is a story of conflict between the old
and new values: oppresser and oppressed. The old values are represented by a
land lord Ahmad Kannu Mudalali, whose words are 'law of the land' and a mystic
Imbichi Goya ThangaL, and the new changes are represented by a rebellious
dry fish vendor and new school teacher of the village. As time goes on the
land lord loses his power, wealth and hold on the people and village awakens
into a new era. His second novel 'thuraimugam' has been published recently.
M. Sundaramoorthy
sun...@indigo1.hsis.uci.edu
P.S: This was posted earlier on alt.culture.tamil. Now reposted with minor
corrections