From: sundar@indigo1.hsis.uci.edu (M. Sundaramoorthy)
Subject: Literary Awards in Tamil (was Re: What is Literature)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.tamil
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 31 Aug 92 03:48:28 GMT


In article <1992Aug30.014927.15083@wuecl.wustl.edu> sp2@cec1.wustl.edu (Sundara Pandian) writes:
> real and believable. Unfortunately, in Tamilnadu, authors are recognized
> for their 'prolificacy'. A novel by Laxmi got a Sahithya Acamedy Award
> but the real reason was to credit the author for writing more than  1000
> Tamil novels( like selling newspapers to get vessels ). She has not written
> any literary material and her novels talk about newly wed people and
> the relationship between the wife and her mother-in-law. Either the
> wife is bad or her mother-in-law is bad in her stories and the story 
> talks about how they get to know each other and resolve their problems.
> The story ends with a happy note always, all getting united at the end.
> I think that Sujatha is going strong for the next Sahitya Acamedy Award
> with his screenplays, crime-stories and it might be a tough task for
> the awarding committee to choose a good 'Ganesh-Vasanth' story among
> his many novles.                
> 
>> M.Sundaramoorthy
>> sundar@indigo1.hsis.uci.edu
>                                                      - S.Pandian
>                                                sp2@cec1.WUSTL.edu
>[ Might be continued..]
>
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	Thanks to Sundara Pandian for a long follow-up on the current
	state of popular Tamil writings.

	Regarding Sahitya Academy award and other literary awards:

	These awards by institutions most of the times go to the influential
	people, rather than the quality  writers, at least when it comes
	to Tamil. Still, once in a while few good writers do get.

	The only 'Gyanpith Award' winner in Tamil was the 'idealist' writer
	Akilan for his 'multi-cornered' love story 'chiththirappaavai'.
	(This was made into a TV serial and the cassettes are available in US).
	This was disputed by many Tamil critics. If 'chiththirappaavai'
	deserves the highest literary honor of India, there were more than 
	100 better novels written in Tamil by then.

	When it comes to annual Sahitya Academy award for Tamil writing, it
	is more like a 'lottery' and no one in the literary circle looks	
	forward for the 'result' very eagerly. One such winner was 
	'Lakshmi' (Dr. Tripurasundari), who wrote 'family stories', which
	otherwise may be known as 'Male chavunistic' stories (though the
	writer is 'she').

	Another person who won the lottery in recent times was Kuloththungan
	(Prof. V.C Kulandaiswamy, former Anna University Vice Chancellor) for
	a book titled 'vaazhum vaLLuvam'. This might be one of the thousands
	of critiques on Thirukkural in Tamil and the committee might have
	worked really hard to select the 'best'.

	The really deserving writers who got the award include Bharathidasan
	(Piciraanthaiyaar, a 'poetic drama'), Ka.Naa.Su. (ilakkiyaththukku
	oru iyakkam', a collection of critical essays), Jayakanthan,
	Cu. Samudram and Ki. Rajanarayanan ('gOpallapuraththu makkaL', second
	volume of his two parts 'historical novel').

	Even these writers have better works which might have been considered
	than those which were chosen.

	When it comes to the 'highest literary honour' in Tamil Nadu ( I
	mean the amount, ie. One Lakh rupees), it becomes an annual joke,
	not even a lottery.

	It is called 'raajaraajan virudhu' given by Tamil University, 
	Thanjavur for 'creative writing'. The first award went to 
	Kaviyogi Suthananda Bharathiyar for 'bhaaratha mahaa cakthi kaaviyam',
	a bulky book of verses written on various people and things since
	the birth of 'Bharatham' (not 1947). Critics were silent on this, though
	it is not a 'creative work', because they believed that Kaviyogi might
	have not lobbied for it and it came on its own out of respect for
	him, rather than political influence. 

	The next one was a real joke. The award went to Kovi Manisekaran
	for his 'historical novel', 'maanbumigu mudhalamaichar' (on
	Chekkizhaar) and he, allegedly, made sure the story praises MGR also
	indirectly. This might be more obvious from his statement in his
	acceptance speech: 'I will end my life the next moment MGR dies'.
	(I believe he is still alive, may be because MGR is immortal). He
	went further to say that many undeserving people might get the
	same award in future and that will be an insult to him and
	he can not imagine himself in the group of such people.

	One award went to Jayakanthan also.

	The next big joke was, when Karunanidhi became chief minister he took
	one himself (is it for 'thenpaaNdi cingam'?) and Cho Ramaswamy promptly
	criticised to show his 'concern for Tamil Literature', before even other
	critics expressed their opinions. 

	So this is how the 'Literary awards' for Tamil literature are
	distributed. The awards don't enhance the value of the winner, rather
	they demean themselves.

	There are some attempts in USA by the "Literature Loving" Tamils to
	institute awards for Tamil Literature, which hopefully will go to
	the deserving writers. An announcement in this regard might be
	posted at an appropriate time by the appropriate person (not me).
	So, 'literature lovers' get your check books ready for the 
	contributions.
	
M. Sundaramoorthy
sundar@indigo1.hsis.uci.edu
sundar@esv1.hsis.uci.edu