From: sp2@cec2.wustl.edu (Sundara Pandian)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.tamil
Subject: Re:Ten Best Tamil Books
Date: 26 Jul 1992 19:03:06 -0500
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

             Re: Ten best Tamil Books
            ---------------------------
 Sundaramoorthy writes :
-----------------------

>Ka. Naa. Su. used to list every now and then 'Ten Best' Tamil novels,
>Indian novels, short story writers etc. He introduced this culture in
>'kanaiyaazhi', which used to publish lists of 'ten best' novels from the  
>readers. 
  
   Do you know Ka.Naa.Su's list of
 ten best Tamil novels ?

>I thought we can also  post such lists on the net such that
>we can get to know about many works that we didn't get chance to read.
>I believe this will be a good information exchange exercise and will 
>eventually lead to a healthy discussion on contemporary literature. We 
>shall add another feature to the list. Give a brief information about 
>the novel, the writer and his/her other works also. I start with my 
>list and request others to post their 'best ten's.      

    Unfortunately, I have not read
 many serious Tamil books like you.
 I have not made any list of ten
 best Tamil books.
    However, I like to add some
 comments on your list of ten  best
 Tamil books.

>(1). naaLai maRRumoru naaLE (Cre-A books, Madras)  - G. Nagarajan
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
>                              Nagarajan was a high school teacher 
>and later indulged in many 'immoral' acts like, drinking, going to 
>prostitutes etc. His personal life, though very tragic, and his 
>association with literary groups produced one of the best writers in 
>Tamil. 

       I read only a few pages of   
 this book, when I came across it.
 I remember reading Sundara Rama- 
 swamy's introduction to this book.
 Or, may be some excerpts from his
 introduction to some other book
 ( short-srory collection? ) of
 Nagarajan on the back cover of
 this book. I remember vaguely
 Sundara Ramaswamy praising author's
 writing.

>(3). oru puLiya marththin kathai (Cre-A books, Madras) - Sundara Ramaswamy
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>This is Sundara Ramswamy's first novel and was partly serialised in 
>'Saraswathi' in 60s. It is a very good depiction of social, cultural, 
>religious, commercial and political changes in the erstwhile 'Thiruvaankoor
>samasthaanam'. The story 'revolves' around an age old tamarind tree and 
>its eventual removal and describes the developements related to that. 
>Sundara Ramaswamy's second novel 'J.J. cila kuRippugal' written in 70s, was 
>the most criticised novel (with either extreme opinions) in modern 
>Tamil literature. His other works include 'natunici naaygal' (poetry 
>collection, pen name: Basuvaiah), 'paLLam' (short story colection), 
>'Sundara Ramasamy katturaikaL'. He currently edits a quarterly literary 
>magazine 'kaalachchuvadu'.

     This is one of the best Tamil
 books that I have read . If I ever
 prepare a list of ten best Tamil
 books, I will place this book as
 #1 and Sundara Ramaswamy's "J.J."
 as #2. Sundara Ramaswamy left the
 Marxist movement that he once took
 part before writing "J.J." and he
 criticizes Marxists thru the
 character Mullaikkal Madhavan Nayar
 in the story. Marxists are not 
 quite happy with this book and I
 have had many arguments pertaining
 the criticisms on this book.
     It may be worthwhile to add a
 few details on Sundara Ramaswamy's
 career. The little magazine "Santhi"
 run by Tho.Mu.Chi. Raghunadhan
 introduced Sundara Ramaswamy to
 Tamil world. This magazine did not
 last long and its main contribution
 is the discovery of Sundara Ramaswamy.
 Likewise, in the magazine "Saraswathi"
 Jayakanthan caught the attention of
 Tamil people and became one of the
 prominent writers in modern Tamil
 short-stories.
 

>(6). ammaa vandhaaL ( AinthiNaip Pathippagam, Madras) - Thi.Janakiraman
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>Since I haven't read Thi. Janakiraman's 'mOgamuL', supposedly the best 
                                                               ^^^^^^^^
>novel ever written in Tamil, I consider 'ammaa vandhaaL' his best. 
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
     Do I see a typing error or what?
 Are you saying that Thi.Jaa is
 "MOga muL" as the best novel ever
 written in Tamil or his best novel?
     I have read "Moga MuL". I don't
 think that it is the best ever Tamil
 novel, though I hold the view that
 "Moga MuL" is the best novel among
 all novels of Thi.Jaa. 
   
>This novel  attempts to break the image of  'mother as a Godess', 
>the moralists try to establish. Mother is also an ordinary human being
>with good and bad qualities like any one else. This novel is about a 
>middle class brahmin family in which all the children get education and 
>lead 'modern' life, except one. He is sent to learn Vedas at the behest 
>of his mother. She was involved in extra-marital affair and she believes 
>she can get rid of her sins by her son's learning of Vedas, which is 
>revealed at the end. His novel 'marappacu' has been translated into 
>English as 'Wooden cow', by Lakshmi Kannan.
	
     This book is incidentally the first
 book on Tamil literature on "oedipus
 complex".  
     It is not just Thi.Jaa who broke    
 the images established by moralists.
 Jayakanthan has done so in several 
 of his short-stories. For instance,
 Jayakanthan writes in his short-story
 "Gurupeedam",
   "kOyilkaL ellaam chaththirangaLE
    angE iruppavargaL ellaam
                   pichaikkaarargaLE".
 [ Ref : "Gurupeedam", a short-story
          colection by Jayakanthan .] 	

 ------
      I don't find any novel by Kaa.Naa.
 Su. in this list. I have not read his
 novels, but I have heard his books
 "vErum, vizhudhum" and "poyththeevu"
 much talked by the critics.
  
>M. Sundaramoorthy
>sundar@indigo1.hsis.uci.edu
                               S.Pandian
                          sp2@cec1.WUSTL.edu
--------------------------------------------

P.S: This was posted earlier on alt.culture.tamil. Now reposted with minor
corrections