COVER Mal Lit Survey FINAL.ai - Kerala Sahitya Akademi

78 Pages·2014·2.27 MB·English

MALAYALAM
LITERARY SURVEY
DECEMBER 2013
KKKKKEEEEERRRRRAAAAALLLLLAAAAA SSSSSAAAAAHHHHHIIIIITTTTTYYYYYAAAAA AAAAAKKKKKAAAAADDDDDEEEEEMMMMMIIIII
Thrissur 680 020, Kerala
Malayalam Literary Survey
A Quarterly Publication of Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Thrissur
Vol. 33 No. 3 - 4. 2013 July - Decmber
Single Issue : Rs. 25/- This Issue - Rs. 50/-
Annual Subscription : Rs. 100/-
Editorial Board
Perumbadavam Sreedharan - President
R. Gopalakrishnan - Secretary & Editor
Chandramati - Convenor
Members
John Samuel
R. Lopa
V.N. Asokan - Sub editor
Cover Design : Vinaylal
Type setting : Macworld, Thrissur
Printed and Published by R. Gopalakrishnan on behalf of
Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Thrissur 680 020 and Printed at
Santhi Bhavan, Kannamkulangara, Thrissur for
Simple Printers, Westfort, Thrissur - 680 004, Kerala and
published at Thrissur, Thrissur Dist., Kerala State.
Editor : R. Gopalakrishnan
Reg. No. 29431/77
Phone : [phone]
[email protected]
www.keralasahityaakademi.org
Articles published in this journal do not necessarily reflect the views
or policies of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi. The Editorial Board cannot
be held responsible for the views expressed by the writers
Editor’s note
“““““TTTTThe word 'translation' comes, etymologically, from the
Latin for 'bearing across'. Having been b o r n e across
the world, we are translated men. It is normally supposed
that something always gets lost in translation; I cling,
obstinately to the notion that something can also be
gained.” (Salman Rushdie, Imaginary Homelands)
In a country like India with great language variance,
translation is the only way of inter-language
communication.Translation promotes the growth of
indigenous literature in the global context. In the present-day
world, translation is surely the only means of reaching out to
a world audience. Gone are the days when only the
language and literature of the colonizing masters were
brought to light and placed on a high pedestal. Now the
whole world is becoming more and more a global village
and translation has become a vehicle for culture-transference
as well.And the translator, now, is a bilingual mediating
agent .
Malayalam literature has the tradition of accepting classical
works in translation and celebrating them-- Vyasa
Mahabharatha, Les Misérables ,War and Peace, Jhutha Sach
etc, to mention a few. Let us proudly remember that the
Kerala Sahitya Akademi has recently brought out the
Malayalam translation of Ulysses, the magnum opus of
James Joyce.
Translation of Malayalam works into other languages is
equally important, as that is the only way to familiarize non-
Malayali readers with the great works in Malayalam. Fully
aware of the dual advantages of adan-pradan in translation,
Kerala Sahitya Akademi seeks to promote Malayalam
Literature and culture in other languages.
In the New year of 2014, let us join hands to give and
receive.
RRRRR..... GGGGGooooopppppaaaaalllllaaaaakkkkkrrrrriiiiissssshhhhhnnnnnaaaaannnnn
Secretary & Editor

Contents
Speaking of poetry - 07
Micheal O hAodha in Conversation with
K. Sachidanandan
Eco-critical readings of Vishakanyaka - 14
Dr. Vyrassery Vamanan Nampoothiri
Arabian Nights - 18
Kureepuzha Sreekumar
My dear Ayyappaji - 20
Rosscot Krishnapillai
Whither is Fled, the Visionary Gleam? - 26
V.G. Thampy
A Tiger and Some Stories - 31
Karunakaran
Return of the Non-Resident Indian - 38
A C Sreehari
As You Bathe Your Mother - 43
Savithri Rajeevan
Ricardo, Janaki and a Female Body - 45
K V Mohankumar
Nature and Myth as a Feminine Language - 50
Praseetha K.
When the First Person Tells a Story - 55
Manoj Kuroor
Literary Ornithology - 57
Sreekanth
Willing to End - 61
Nirmala
Inkayi - 66
Sreelatha
The White Dog - 73
Kuzhoor Wilson
6 M A L AYA L A M L I T E R A RY S U RV E Y
Speaking
of Poetry
Micheal O hAodha in Conversation with K.Satchidanandan
(This interview was done at the end of 2011 for my Irish
anthology, RRRRRoooooggggghhhhhaaaaa DDDDDaaaaannnnntttttaaaaa. (Selected Poems. ) translated by
the eminent Irish poet, Gabriel Rosenstock. It was published
in Irish as appendix to the book that came out in 2012, but has
not yet appeared in English. It may be of special interest to
the readers as the poet is responding to questions from a
foreign critic who does not know much about Malayalam- or
for that matter Indian - literature )
CCCCCaaaaannnnn yyyyyooooouuuuu ttttteeeeellllllllll uuuuusssss aaaaa llllliiiiittttttttttllllleeeee bbbbbiiiiittttt aaaaabbbbbooooouuuuuttttt yyyyyooooouuuuurrrrr bbbbbaaaaaccccckkkkkgggggrrrrrooooouuuuunnnnnddddd?????
WWWWWhhhhhaaaaattttt dddddrrrrreeeeewwwww yyyyyooooouuuuu tttttooooo llllliiiiittttteeeeerrrrraaaaatttttuuuuurrrrreeeee iiiiinnnnniiiiitttttiiiiiaaaaallllllllllyyyyy?????
IIIIIhad no writers before me in the family though my elder
brother used to write verses during his school and college
days. Whenever I try to think about what really led me to
poetry I hear the diverse strains of the incessant rains of my
village in Kerala in South India. I recall too the luminous lines
of the Malayalam epic, Adhyatma Ramayana that I had read
as a school boy where the poet invokes the Goddess of the
Word, Saraswati, the Indian Muse, to keep bringing the apt
words to his mind without a pause like the endless waves of
the sea. My mother taught me to talk to crows and trees; from
my pious father I learnt to communicate with gods and spirits.
My insane grandmother taught me to create a parallel world
to escape the vile ordinariness of the tiresomely humdrum
everyday world; the dead taught me to be one with the soil;
the wind taught me to move and shake without ever being
Whenever I try to think about what really led me to
poetry I hear the diverse strains of the incessant rains
of my village in Kerala in South India.
M A L AYA L A M L I T E R A RY S U RV E Y 7
seen and the rain trained my voice in a WWWWWeeeeerrrrreeeee yyyyyooooouuuuu aaaaawwwwwaaaaarrrrreeeee ooooofffff aaaaa rrrrriiiiiccccchhhhh tttttrrrrraaaaadddddiiiiitttttiiiiiooooonnnnn iiiiinnnnn
thousand modulations. My beautiful village ttttteeeeerrrrrmmmmmsssss ooooofffff pppppoooooeeeeetttttrrrrryyyyy iiiiinnnnn ttttthhhhheeeee MMMMMaaaaalllllaaaaayyyyyaaaaalllllaaaaammmmm
with its poor people too must have turned lllllaaaaannnnnggggguuuuuaaaaagggggeeeee wwwwwhhhhheeeeennnnn yyyyyooooouuuuu fffffiiiiirrrrrsssssttttt bbbbbeeeeegggggaaaaannnnn wwwwwrrrrriiiiitttttiiiiinnnnnggggg?????
me into poetry. With such rare teachers
When I began writing I was in school. I must
perhaps it was impossible for me not to be a
have been 12 when my first poem was
poet, of sorts.
published in a small village magazine. I had
WWWWWhhhhhaaaaattttt aaaaarrrrreeeee yyyyyooooouuuuurrrrr iiiiinnnnnttttteeeeerrrrreeeeessssstttttsssss ooooouuuuutttttsssssiiiiidddddeeeee ooooofffff only a vague idea of our tradition. Indeed I
llllliiiiittttteeeeerrrrraaaaatttttuuuuurrrrreeeee????? had read some of the classical authors, but
the general understanding of tradition was
My second love is art. Art galleries are the
not very strong. But gradually, as I began to
first places I go to during my travels. There is
take poetry seriously, I began to read our
hardly any important art gallery in Europe or
poets slowly and consciously and later
the US I have not visited. I have also written
started writing about their works. I have my
on contemporary art. Then there is cinema. I
own canon and have written poems about
attend film festivals or watch DVDs and try to
my predecessors- Ezhuthachchan, Kumaran
see what is happening there. The visual
Asan, Vailoppilly, P.Kunjiraman Nair,
element that is strong in my poetry
Edassery Govindan Nair, Ayyappa Paniker
according to critics as also the narrative
whom I consider most significant in terms of
element and its use of a kind of montage
poetic experience or/ and form. But I keep
may have something to do with this
reading even the youngest of poets and
fascination for films. I am also interested in
never cease to learn from others’ practice
philosophy and history. I listen to music of
even while remaining myself.
all kinds too. The fresh discoveries about the
DDDDDooooo pppppeeeeeooooopppppllllleeeee iiiiinnnnn ttttthhhhheeeee WWWWWeeeeesssssttttt gggggeeeeettttt aaaaa “““““fffffaaaaalllllssssseeeee”””””
human body, especially the brain as also the
iiiiimmmmmppppprrrrreeeeessssssssssiiiiiooooonnnnn ooooofffff IIIIInnnnndddddiiiiiaaaaa fffffrrrrrooooommmmm sssssooooommmmmeeeee ooooofffff ttttthhhhheeeee
possibilities of life outside the earth and the
llllliiiiittttteeeeerrrrraaaaatttttuuuuurrrrreeeee ttttthhhhhaaaaattttt pppppuuuuurrrrrpppppooooorrrrrtttttsssss tttttooooo bbbbbeeeee “““““IIIIInnnnndddddiiiiiaaaaannnnn””””” –––––
solar system excite me a lot.
iiiii.....eeeee..... IIIIInnnnndddddiiiiiaaaaannnnn “““““dddddiiiiiaaaaassssspppppooooorrrrraaaaa wwwwwrrrrriiiiitttttiiiiinnnnnggggg””””” wwwwwrrrrriiiiitttttttttteeeeennnnn bbbbbyyyyy
WWWWWhhhhhaaaaattttt ssssstttttyyyyyllllleeeee ooooorrrrr gggggeeeeennnnnrrrrreeeeesssss ooooofffff llllliiiiittttteeeeerrrrraaaaatttttuuuuurrrrreeeee dddddooooo
wwwwwrrrrriiiiittttteeeeerrrrrsssss wwwwwhhhhhooooo mmmmmaaaaayyyyy hhhhhaaaaavvvvveeeee gggggrrrrrooooowwwwwnnnnn uuuuuppppp
yyyyyooooouuuuu eeeeennnnnjjjjjoooooyyyyy aaaaasssss aaaaa rrrrreeeeeaaaaadddddeeeeerrrrr?????
ooooouuuuutttttsssssiiiiidddddeeeee ooooofffff IIIIInnnnndddddiiiiiaaaaa aaaaannnnnddddd wwwwwhhhhhooooossssseeeee llllliiiiinnnnnkkkkksssss wwwwwiiiiittttthhhhh
Avantgarde writing of all kinds interest me ttttthhhhheeeeeiiiiirrrrr “““““hhhhhooooommmmmeeeeelllllaaaaannnnnddddd””””” aaaaarrrrreeeee ttttteeeeennnnnuuuuuooooouuuuusssss aaaaattttt bbbbbeeeeesssssttttt?????
particularly. Besides world poetry, I read a lot
Even among the Indian authors writing in
of fiction from all around. You can imagine English there are two categories: those who
the kind of writing I like if I name some of live in India and write about Indian life and
my favourites: Dostoevsky, Kafka, society and those who live abroad and keep
Kazantsakis, Italo Calvino, James Joyce, visiting India looking for “themes”. Then
Samuel Beckett, Jorge Luis Borges, Milan there are those who have decided to write in
Kundera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, J. M. the Indian languages, twenty-two of which
Coetzee, Maria Vergas Llosa, Jose have been recognised by the Constitution
Saramago, Salman Rushdie : there are many (there are several more awaiting recognition).
more, but I have read almost everything Those who write in these languages are
these writers have written available in closest to our reality as it is almost
English. I do read plays and enjoy good impossible to capture its nuances and
critical/theoretical writing, say Roland complexities in English language that is still
Barthes, Maurice Blanchot , Michel Foucault, the language of the elite in India. Of those
Jacques Derrida, Umberto Eco, Giorgio who write in English for various reasons – for
Agamben and Jacques Ranciere, to name a some that is the only language they know
few. My formal research was in post- well as they have been brought up and
Structuralism. educated outside their regions; for some it is
8 M A L AYA L A M L I T E R A RY S U RV E Y
To me poetry is complete expression. It also gives me opportunities to play with
language even while expressing my human concerns. I enjoy the act of writing itself more
than anything that follows it - publication, recognition and earthly rewards.
a choice as it suddenly makes them pan- politics of translation and partly with the sad
Indian and even ‘international’- those who fact that there are very few in India or abroad
live abroad create a very unreal India. For who can translate directly from an Indian
most of them India is an ethnological language into a foreign language. Even the
museum and they have a tendency to number of those who can translate well into
‘package’ and sell India. Unfortunately this English is limited, not to speak of French,
tendency has also begun to falsify a lot of German, Spanish, Italian, Welsh or Irish. So
writing in English done by those who live one has to depend on English as a link
inside the country. Their works are often read language. I was fortunate to have direct
not as literature, but as instances of history, translators for my poetry into French and
ethnography and even anthropology. Your German, but the Italian and Arabic
whole perspective gets falsified when you translations were done from my own English
eye a foreign market. Thank God, poetry is versions though I did have them compared
free from this as it has no ‘market’ any way. with the originals with the help of scholars
who knew the languages. Many publishers
HHHHHooooowwwww wwwwwooooouuuuulllllddddd yyyyyooooouuuuu dddddeeeeessssscccccrrrrriiiiibbbbbeeeee yyyyyooooouuuuurrrrrssssseeeeelllllfffff iiiiinnnnn
abroad are not willing to accept such indirect
ttttteeeeerrrrrmmmmmsssss ooooofffff yyyyyooooouuuuurrrrr pppppooooollllliiiiitttttiiiiicccccaaaaalllll llllleeeeeaaaaannnnniiiiinnnnngggggsssss?????
translations. I do not find any easy way out
I have passed through an intensely political except to have more translations in English
phase in my writing career as a radical so that they make their way from there into
Leftist. But my sympathies are now broader. other languages. With all the losses that
My concerns are very much alive, but they such translations may entail, something of
are not confined to class any more; they are the original definitely gets through.
more species-concerns. I believe in the
DDDDDooooo yyyyyooooouuuuu ttttthhhhhiiiiinnnnnkkkkk ttttthhhhheeeeerrrrreeeee iiiiisssss tttttoooooooooo mmmmmuuuuuccccchhhhh ooooofffff aaaaannnnn
Commons philosophy: that the earth, water,
eeeeemmmmmppppphhhhhaaaaasssssiiiiisssss ooooonnnnn ttttthhhhheeeee WWWWWeeeeesssssttttt uuuuunnnnndddddeeeeerrrrrssssstttttaaaaannnnndddddiiiiinnnnnggggg
air, knowledge and culture belong to all
ttttthhhhheeeee EEEEEaaaaasssssttttt aaaaannnnnddddd vvvvviiiiiccccceeeee-----vvvvveeeeerrrrrsssssaaaaa aaaaattttt ttttthhhhheeeee
human beings; the first three also belong to
mmmmmooooommmmmeeeeennnnnttttt????? AAAAArrrrreeeee ttttthhhhheeeeerrrrreeeee aaaaassssspppppeeeeeccccctttttsssss ooooofffff ttttthhhhheeeee EEEEEaaaaasssssttttt
every being that constitutes the ecosystem.
ttttthhhhhaaaaattttt ssssshhhhhooooouuuuulllllddddd aaaaalllllwwwwwaaaaayyyyysssss rrrrreeeeemmmmmaaaaaiiiiinnnnn “““““ttttthhhhheeeeeiiiiirrrrrsssss”””””?????
I try to look at the world also from the
point of view of animals, insects and plants I do not think there is any harm in attempts
so that I may be free of the last hubris, of to understand one another. What I find
being man. One of our great writers, strange are these very constraining and
Vaikom Muhammed Basheer, who was totalising categories –‘The West’ and ‘the
deeply impacted by Sufism has written a ‘East’. These stereotypes, like ‘the spiritual
short story, The Inheritors of the Earth East’ and the ‘materialist West’ have already
(Bhoomiyude Avakashikal) that reflects this done a lot of harm. Again, a closer look will
mode of thinking. prove that all the Eastern countries, or all the
Western countries do not share everything:
WWWWWhhhhhyyyyy iiiiisssss iiiiittttt ttttthhhhhaaaaattttt sssssooooo fffffeeeeewwwww ppppprrrrreeeeessssseeeeennnnnttttt-----dddddaaaaayyyyy
Japan, China, India, Indonesia: if they have
IIIIInnnnndddddiiiiiaaaaannnnn pppppoooooeeeeetttttsssss aaaaannnnnddddd wwwwwrrrrriiiiittttteeeeerrrrrsssss aaaaarrrrreeeee tttttrrrrraaaaannnnnssssslllllaaaaattttteeeeeddddd
some things in common, they have as many
––––– ttttthhhhheeeeerrrrreeeeebbbbbyyyyy nnnnnooooottttt rrrrreeeeeaaaaaccccchhhhhiiiiinnnnnggggg aaaaa bbbbbiiiiiggggggggggeeeeerrrrr
differences among them too. This is equally
rrrrreeeeeaaaaadddddeeeeerrrrrssssshhhhhiiiiippppp iiiiinnnnn ooooottttthhhhheeeeerrrrr pppppaaaaarrrrrtttttsssss ooooofffff ttttthhhhheeeee wwwwwooooorrrrrlllllddddd,,,,,
true of the so-called ‘West’. How far is Ireland
ttttthhhhheeeee WWWWWeeeeesssssttttt iiiiinnnnn pppppaaaaarrrrrtttttiiiiicccccuuuuulllllaaaaarrrrr?????
like France, or Germany like Iceland? At the
It has to do partly with the international same time there is also a real
M A L AYA L A M L I T E R A RY S U RV E Y 9