Social novel
P. SUNDARESAN
INBATHTHIN ELLAIYIL (Tamil): Se. Ganesalingan, Kumaran Publishers, 3 (12) Meigai Vinayagar Street, (Via) Kumaran Colony 7th Street, Vadapalani, Chennai-600026. Rs. 70.
The extraordinary preface covers a lot of ground. Having completed his 50th novel, this Tamil writer of Sri Lankan origin goes down the memory lane right from 1965 when he made his debut with ‘Neenda Payanam’, followed by ‘Sadangu’ and ‘Sevvaanam’; the three works constituted a trilogy on the changeover from feudalism to capitalism. Ganesalingam speaks about his association with legendary writers such as Mu.Va and Akilon and makes a self
-assessment of the novels that followed the trio.
Candid
There is a candid account of how he could circumvent the law in certain novels. He drives home the point that, with the advent of serials in TV, the publication of novels in periodicals has taken a back seat.
What comes out in bold relief is his delineation of novel-writing. As his earlier novel ‘Thanthayin Kathai’, this too is peppered with the sayings of Sigmund Freud chosen from ‘An Outline of Psychoanalysis.’
To take a brief look at the novel, Thillainathan, who has a niece Ambika studying in college, was approached by his Freudian hero Prof. Perambalam with a proposal to get her married to his son Sambandan, a printer and publisher in Colombo. That she had learnt veena from Perambalam’s daughter is a point in his favour.
The alliance clicked after her parents gave the nod, although the would-be was no match to her. The couple started connubial life in an admirable manner with both sharing the responsibility of office management by turns. Starry-eyed Ambika, who was slapped by her egoistic husband on suspicion of an illicit affair, was quick to substitute the young and innocent housemaid by a male.
She is perhaps seized by the memorable words of Bertrand Russel; “The secret of happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible, horrible, horrible…” This social novel that provides an object lesson in guarding against marital disharmony is vitiated by misprints.
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