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Stories of Malayali life
Selected Malayalam
Short Stories
Ed: Rajendra Awasthy,
Rs. 95.00, Fusion Books
THIS REPRESENTATIVE anthology for Malayalam short stories provides a sample of the art of most of the big names that have been writing in this genre. The editor of this volume, Rajendra Awasthy provides in his brief introduction, the rationale behind his choice of stories. He states that while his aim is to introduce these writers to a wider audience through the medium of translation, he has been careful that the authors are representative of what he believes are the three major periods of development in the writing of this type of story.
While the short story, he says, has been around for about a hundred years with Vengayil Kunhiraman Nayanar as a pioneer in the art, it only came into its own in the thirties. The anthology begins with writers who do not stray from recognisable forms, with deftly drawn characters and situations, to those who begin to experiment with language and to depict reality through a distortion of it.
Karoor Neelakanta Pillai's `Wooden Dolls', the first of the 21 stories is set in the classic short story mould. It delineates a typical routine encounter between a collector of census data and the woman he is interviewing and transforms it into an exploration of the creative process. P. Kesava Dev's `Koran, the Fisherman' is a well-drawn portrait. In Ponkunam Varkey's risqué `The Stud Bull', the writer weaves in the lives of Neelantan, the stud bull and Noopar and his daughter till the animal ultimately becomes a device to comment on the lives of the two protagonists. Lalithambika Antharjanam's `Daughter of Man' is a social comment on the state of the feudal hierarchy, while Basheer's `To End All Wars' is pure satire.
It is with S. K. Pottekat's `Nishagandhi' that the stories in the anthology begin to acquire a slightly different tone and style and move gradually towards an exploration of mindscapes through the use of techniques such as interior monologues, symbolism and experiments with language and poetic diction. A use of some of these techniques is visible in this anthology in the stories by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, P. C. Kuttikrishnan, K. Saraswathi Amma, Ponjikkara Raphy, T.Padmanabhan, M. T. Vasudevan Nair, M. P. Narayana Pillai, Kakkanadan, Tiyyar, M. Mukundan, Kamala Das, Punathil Kunhabdullah, Zacharia, P. Padmarajan and V. P. Sivakumar.
It is notable that many of these stories are epiphanic and dwell on a moment when the character is going through a situation which might not always be typical of normal life, unlike in the first few stories in this volume. It is more difficult to use modern techniques of writing effectively than is generally believed for it is only in the hands of a master that they can transcend mere affectation and become works of art. Translation of such works is also not easy to accomplish, but most of the stories Awasthy has chosen have some appeal.
An interesting piece is K.Saraswathi Amma's `Woman's Wit,' which succeeds both as an English translation as well as a record of a typical milieu and conversation where often the seekers of advice and the advisor speak the same language but do not understood each other. All agree that the main character Vilasini is sensible but not many can accept her sensible advice. Kakkanadan's `The Savage Chant' is an example of a lavish poetic diction while M.P.Narayanan Pillai's `He' is as economical as can be.
The stories describe a reasonably wide gamut of emotions. But the predominant notes are those of melancholy, sadness, savagery and disquiet. Or is it only angst that makes for good writing? This is an observation that can be made of most of the anthologies that are being published now. All the same, Awasthy has come out with a collection, which is worth a read.
PRATIMA ASHER
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