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The magic of printed words will continue, says M.T. Vasudevan Nair

Kochi: Jnanpith Award winner M.T. Vasudevan Nair speaking on reading is like taking a journey through great writers in world literature, with a foot firmly in repertoire of Malayalam literature.

Inaugurating the valedictory session of year-long platinum jubilee celebrations of Mahatma Library, Thrippunithura, on Saturday, MT took the audience from Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose to A.S. Byatt’s Possession, Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran to Vaikom Mohammed Basheer’s Premalekhanam and biography of N.V. Krishna Warrier.

All these works glorified the beauty of words, and that of reading. While even those principles thought to be permanent in science and philosophy are being changed by the advancement of knowledge, classical literary works remain unchanged. Fiction, is for sure, more permanent than sciences, backed by logic and reason. The magic of printed words will continue. Nothing can replace the pleasure of turning pages, the smell of books and the brightness of white lines running between printed matter, he said.

Reading had always triggered movements, often revolutions, in minds of people. That is why the then rulers chose to ban Basheer’s Premalekhanam, which was a beautifully-written love story. They were afraid that given Basheer’s record of politically-aggressive essays, this story could be dangerous, MT said.

K.G. Poulose, Vice-Chancellor of Kerala Kalamandalam Deemed University, presided over the function. Senior journalist Leela Menon delivered the keynote address. K. Babu, MLA, inaugurated the digitalisation of the library.

MT also distributed prizes to winners of various literary and theatre competitions held as part of jubilee celebrations.

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