Greatest Malayalam Novels
Austin Pereira
Which would be Ten greatest Novels in Malayalam ?
Some of the novels that come to mind are:
1) Chemeen by Thakazhi
2) Antuppupakoru annundayirinnu by Basheer
3) Odayyil ninnu
4) Oru Deshathinta Katha by S.K. Pottakkaad
5) Khazhakkinde Edihasam by O.V. Vijayan
6) Kayar
7) Randamuzham by M.T.
8) Sarakutty by Austin ( the only 'painkili' )
Please add/delete as you wish.
- Austin
p.s. Many of you may have problems with #8
sma...@pearl.tufts.edu
>
> Which would be Ten greatest Novels in Malayalam ?
>
> Some of the novels that come to mind are:
> 1) Chemeen by Thakazhi
> 2) Antuppupakoru annundayirinnu by Basheer
> 3) Odayyil ninnu
> 4) Oru Deshathinta Katha by S.K. Pottakkaad
> 5) Khazhakkinde Edihasam by O.V. Vijayan
> 6) Kayar
> 7) Randamuzham by M.T.
> 8) Sarakutty by Austin ( the only 'painkili' )
>
Mayyazhippuzhayde Theerangalil - M.Mukundan
Smaaraka Shilakal - Punathil Kunjabdulla
Sundaranmaarum Sundarikalum - Uroob (P.C.Kuttikrishnan)
Yanthram - Malayattoor Ramakrishnan
----------------------
Sam Mathew sma...@pearl.tufts.edu
http://www.tufts.edu/~smathew/
sup...@rahul.net
contained classics from Thakazhi, Keshavadev, Pottekkad, M.T
Vijayan, Basheer and himself;-) snipped due to technical difficulties]
Hi Austin,
This looks like a great list, but I guess it's worth revisiting
for the 90's ;-)
Not being a "Madhya-Thiruvathankoor" person I've always had problems
relating to Thakazhi and his dialect. He is great alright, which I
guess is more than obvious even to a novice reader. But there is
something about him, that alienates me from him. He sure was a
trend-setter and up until late 70's or early 80's he was probably my
favorite author. After that many have started adopting his style and
currently I feel do a better job. All said and done, I'm eagerly
waiting for his epic which he is working on right now and promises to
complete if he is alive for an year more.
Basheer, the Beypore Sultan had always been one of my favorites. His
simplicity and candor are unmatched even today. I remember that once
he was pointed out that there are serious syntactical errors in his
writing and Basheer telling them "Here ! You and your predicates! , I
write the way I speak". This amply portrays his writing style, which
one can easily fall for. Being a Painkili writer yourself ;-) I sure
understand why you can relate to your choice of the Basheer work.
K.P. Keshavadev is perhaps too old for my taste. I started off by
reading his last work and I thought it was too heavy to carry with
me all the way ;-) I could be terribly wrong, but I think I want to
avoid reading him as much as possible. I wouldn't categorize Pottekkad
as a good novelist; he was more of a travel writer than a novelist. I'm
sure he is a great writer, but since I haven't read him in the last
15-20 years probably I shouldn't comment on him and hurt the feelings
of Pottekkad fans. I vaguely remember reading "Kaappirikalude Naattil",
when I was 9 and struggling to stay awake ! I gave up after trying it
for a month or so :-)
I can't agree with you more on the choice of M.T's work. I feel that
it is still the best one of his 8 novels. "Manju"(Snow) should be up
somewhere up together with that, but it's slightly alien theme should
give Randammozham the edge. If you haven't tried "Kaalam", try it.
It is another major contender.
I was surprised at the fact that you chose Legends of Khasak over
Gurusaagaram from O.V. Vijayan. The former is a good one, but the
latter is simply a modern day classic. He reminds you of Camus in
his philosophy and Maupassant in the story telling capability and
to read all that in Malayalam was nothing but brilliant.
To summarize, my Top ten Malayalam workds looking back on the novels
I've read over the last 3 decades might look like this, in no
particular order, though I think Vettoor's work should be one among
the top 3:
- Gurusaagaram by O.V.Vijayan
- Randamoozham by M.T
- Oru Verum Premakatha by Vettoor Raman Nair
- Balyakaalasakhi by Basheer
- Oru Sankeerthanam Pole by Perumbadavam sreedharan
- Munpe Parakkunna Pakshikal by C Radhakrishnan
- Daivathinde Vikrithikal by Mukundan
- Ende Karnan by V.T. Nandakumar
- AsuraVithu by M.T
- Niram Pidippicha Nunakal by Yashpal, translated from Hindi, 'Choota Such'
If there is sufficient interest I'll review any of the above works
and substantiate why I rate them in my top 10.
Cheers,
-AS,
Joel Goldentyer
get hold of whatever Malayalam literature I can find in English.
So far I have read bits of Kamala Das (who you don't mention),
Chemeen, The Saga of Dharmapuri by O.V. Vijayan, and a novel
called The Beloved by Oroob. I am fascinated to read your
discussion and would love to know if you can tell me whether you
know of English translations of any of the novels you recommend.
Your help is appreciated-otherwise you'll be leaving me to Mohan
Lal flicks to get info on Kerala.
paul chemmanoor
> [....]
>
> - Gurusaagaram by O.V.Vijayan
> - Randamoozham by M.T
> - Oru Verum Premakatha by Vettoor Raman Nair
> - Balyakaalasakhi by Basheer
> - Oru Sankeerthanam Pole by Perumbadavam sreedharan
> - Munpe Parakkunna Pakshikal by C Radhakrishnan
> - Daivathinde Vikrithikal by Mukundan
> - Ende Karnan by V.T. Nandakumar
> - AsuraVithu by M.T
> - Niram Pidippicha Nunakal by Yashpal, translated from Hindi, 'Choota Such'
>
> If there is sufficient interest I'll review any of the above works
> and substantiate why I rate them in my top 10.
1] I think the last should read "Jhoota Such" -- False Truths [ ok so Schwarznegger didnt act
in it :)]. More seriously, I think a review of these books would be very valuable.
I would also suggest that you distribute the reviews in multiple posts say a review a week.
That alone would make people [certainly me] look forward to reading the newsgroup for
some time. More than the storyline [ which is often neccessary in a review ] I would
appreciate the reasons think the author reviewed has greatness in him/her [ in this
case only him :)] in the context of world literatures.
stay cool.
paul chemmanoor.
>
> Cheers,
>
> -AS,
Thom
What about Oru Vazhiyum Kure Nizhalukalum...I forgot the author's name.
Thom
O V I am sorry.
Austin Pereira
In article <DnIB3...@boss.cs.ohiou.edu>, per...@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu (Austin Pereira) writes:
>
> Which would be Ten greatest Novels in Malayalam ?
>
> Some of the novels that come to mind are:
> 1) Chemeen by Thakazhi
> 2) Antuppupakoru annundayirinnu by Basheer
> 3) Odayyil ninnu
> 4) Oru Deshathinta Katha by S.K. Pottakkaad
> 5) Khazhakkinde Edihasam by O.V. Vijayan
> 6) Kayar
> 7) Randamuzham by M.T.
> 8) Sarakutty by Austin ( the only 'painkili' )
>
few novels that came to my mind:
Mayyazhippuzhayde Theerangalil - M.Mukundan
Smaaraka Shilakal - Punathil Kunjabdulla
Sundaranmaarum Sundarikalum - Uroob (P.C.Kuttikrishnan)
Yanthram - Malayattoor Ramakrishnan
********************************************************************************
From: sup...@rahul.net
AS writes:
- Gurusaagaram by O.V.Vijayan
- Randamoozham by M.T
- Oru Verum Premakatha by Vettoor Raman Nair
- Balyakaalasakhi by Basheer
- Oru Sankeerthanam Pole by Perumbadavam sreedharan
- Munpe Parakkunna Pakshikal by C Radhakrishnan
- Daivathinde Vikrithikal by Mukundan
- Ende Karnan by V.T. Nandakumar
- AsuraVithu by M.T
- Niram Pidippicha Nunakal by Yashpal, translated from Hindi, 'Choota Such'
If there is sufficient interest I'll review any of the above works
and substantiate why I rate them in my top 10.
Cheers,
-AS,
********************************************************************************
I would like to say the following
a) It's time to revisit for the 90's. ( as AS said )
b) I agree that Keshavadev's style is old. I read Odayyil
Ninnu when I was very young, and I cried reading that
novel
c) S.K. Pottakaad's 'Oru Deshathinte Katha' is sort of
autobiographical. There is an interesting ( funny )
character in that novel ( forgot his name )
b) Basheer's style, I like a lot.
c) Kunha abdulla's last novel was a disaster. The novel
was called 'arabi rathrigal' or something like that.
He had straight away copied stuff from a foriegn book.
If someone knows details about that episode, please
let us know.
d) Heard a lot about M Mukundan. AS, Please review him. I never
could read Mukundan
e) As Paul pointed out, AS, please review the novels
After this discussion on the greatest malayalam novels, we
can move on to Malayalam poetry. We can talk about Madhavikutty,
Balamaniamma, Balachandran Chullikaad, Kadamanitta, Ayyappa Panikkar,
Kunhnunni, Kavalam Narayana Pannikkar, etc, etc
- Austin
sup...@rahul.net
>
> Hi. I am a very ignorant, but very interested American. I try to
> get hold of whatever Malayalam literature I can find in English.
Joel, This is very refreshing to hear!
> So far I have read bits of Kamala Das (who you don't mention),
There is a reason why I didn't mention Kamala Das. Undoubtedly
she is the best Malayali writer in English. Even with that kind of
talent [obviously in the genes ;-)] her works early in her career,
especially in the the weekly magazine , malayalanaadu (??) were
extremely immature, which something I've tried to forget ever since,
but never been able to.
Her observations during that time about the emotional and physical
relationships of Malayalis, I guess were far from accurate. A writer
can never take shots like that at the foundations of a society
- it does not matter whether it is true or not - and hope for that
society and her generation to accept her. I personally feel that
was what happened to her and though miles ahead of her parents
in talent she can never reach anywhere near the fame her mother
has now in Kerala.
> Chemeen, The Saga of Dharmapuri by O.V. Vijayan, and a novel
> called The Beloved by Oroob. I am fascinated to read your
> discussion and would love to know if you can tell me whether you
> know of English translations of any of the novels you recommend.
> Your help is appreciated-otherwise you'll be leaving me to Mohan
> Lal flicks to get info on Kerala.
As far as I know there are a few publishing companies, actively
doing Malayalam translations to English. They cover the works
of
1. T Padmanabhan - probably one of the best short story writers
of our time
2. M.T - Latest Jnanapith laurate, A malayali's favorite
writer
3. Malayattoor - A maverick whose range makes us wonder whether
it was same person who wrote Yakshi, Yanthram
and Manassile Manikyam ;-)
4. O.V Vijayan - Probably has a fan following as big as M.T's
but many consider him to be more talented
and many, many, many more ....
Here are the addresses of some of the major publisher's of Malayalam
works in English
1. Penguin Books India,
210, Chiranjiv Tower, 43 Nehru Palace
New Delhi 110 019
(Penguin USA , 375 Hudson St., New York, NY, 10014)
2. Rupa & Co.
7/16 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi 110 002
3. Katha
Building Centre, Sarai Kale Khan
3, Nizamuddin Easy, New Delhi 110013
4. Oxford University Press,
Walton St., Oxford OX26DP
There could be more that esacapes my memory. Readers please
feel free to add.
Good luck,
-AS
P.S: I recently read a book by Dr. C.P Sivadasan on the Malayalam
literature in English. Probably I'll review it here sometime. It
is pretty interesting
sup...@rahul.net
>
> sup...@rahul.net wrote:
> > [....]
> >
> > - Gurusaagaram by O.V.Vijayan
> > - Randamoozham by M.T
> > - Oru Verum Premakatha by Vettoor Raman Nair
> > - Balyakaalasakhi by Basheer
> > - Oru Sankeerthanam Pole by Perumbadavam sreedharan
> > - Munpe Parakkunna Pakshikal by C Radhakrishnan
> > - Daivathinde Vikrithikal by Mukundan
> > - Ende Karnan by V.T. Nandakumar
> > - AsuraVithu by M.T
> > - Niram Pidippicha Nunakal by Yashpal, translated from Hindi, 'Choota Such'
> >
> > If there is sufficient interest I'll review any of the above works
> > and substantiate why I rate them in my top 10.
>
> More seriously, I think a review of these books would be very valuable.
> I would also suggest that you distribute the reviews in multiple posts say a review a week.
> That alone would make people [certainly me] look forward to reading the newsgroup for
> some time. More than the storyline [ which is often neccessary in a review ] I would
> appreciate the reasons think the author reviewed has greatness in him/her [ in this
> case only him :)] in the context of world literatures.
This is a nice idea Paul. Actually I'm in the process of creating
a site with a lot of details on Malayalam literature which is still
under construction. I'm also trying to dig up some of my old book
reviews in ACK. I'll be publicising the site after it has reached
a satisfactory completion level.
Since M.T's Randamoozham seems to have got into the list of more
than one of us, probably I'll start from there.
I recently did a writeup here on one of the 10 selections I've
above. For my opinions and remarks on "Oru Sangeerthanam Pole"
by P. Sreedharan , try the URL:
http://www.rahul.net/supriya/7.0296
Regards,
-AS
P.S: By "revisting for the 90's" , I didn't actually mean to
consider books written in 90's only; but to look back from
90's - today - into the Malayalam novels to date and find
what is relevant to the current social makeup and what you
feel would stand the test of time... Note that 3 of 10 I've
selected are more than 3 decades old ;-)
Usman
How about 'Oru Desathinte Katha' by S K Pottakattu.
And in the novelite/Short Story section:
'Prathimaye Snehicha Raajakumaari' by Padmarajan
Sunil
Shabari Kumar
> In article <4h6ppv$pc4$2...@mhadg.production.compuserve.com>, Joel Goldentyer <1025...@CompuServe.COM> writes:
> |> Hi. I am a very ignorant, but very interested American. I try to
> |> get hold of whatever Malayalam literature I can find in English.
> |> So far I have read bits of Kamala Das (who you don't mention),
> |> Chemeen, The Saga of Dharmapuri by O.V. Vijayan, and a novel
o.v.vijayan also has a book of stories translated in english. it's
called the egg or the ovary or the womb or something like that.
> |> called The Beloved by Oroob. I am fascinated to read your
> |> discussion and would love to know if you can tell me whether you
> |> know of English translations of any of the novels you recommend.
> |> Your help is appreciated-otherwise you'll be leaving me to Mohan
> |> Lal flicks to get info on Kerala.
>
> Joel,
>
> Kamala Das was considered a poetess. If she has written novels, I'm sorry
> that I don't kknow.
>
she's certainly written stories (in english and in malayalam). they're as
bad as her poems, imo.(i'd generally say some good feminist things about
the word "poetess", but you have a strong case here).
> I have seen translations of "Kayar", named Coir by Thakazhi. Never read the
scavenger's son has also appeared in translation, pub. by heinemann which
is now doing an indian writers series.
i've also found an excellent book called southern harvest (ed. gita
hariharan) with several malayali stories.
books like these can be ordered from the asia society bookstore in
manhattan, or south asia books, i'm sure.
> English version. You can find this in your nearest public library, provided
> they have a foreign literature section.
>
> It will be intersting to here what you think of our movies; Mohal Lal's
> or otherwise.
>
well, you asked joel and not me, so i'll keep my opinions of adoor
gopalakrishnan to myself. :) :).
> Good luck!
> Anil.
>
>