From: sp2@cec1.wustl.edu (Sundara Pandian)
Subject: Re: What is literature ?
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis Mo.
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 01:49:27 GMT

 M.Sundaramoorthy writes in soc.culture.tamil :
-----------------------------------------------
>	There was so much talked about 'literature' in SCT. If anyone came
>	across a better and more precise definition of 'literature' than
>	the following, please post.

>	"vaazhkkai, vaazhvu enRu iraNdu padhangaL uNdu. indha iraNdukkum
>	uLLa cambandhaththaiyO alladhu cambandhaminmaiyaiyO colvadhu thaan
>	ilakkyam"
>
	                             - Pudhumaippiththan

      Sundaramoorthy translates the above definition of literature in
 Tamil by Pudhumaippithan as ' the interaction between an individual
 and the world'. I would translate the above definition in Tamil as

     ' Literature is that which elucidates what relates an individual
 with his society and what alienates him from his society '.

>	BTW, how much of our 'literature' discussion falls under this 
>	definition?.

     I like to write in this article how much of the literature we  
 have in Tamil ( or other Indian languages like Hindi, Malayalam,
 telugu etc.,) fall under the Tamil author's definition of literature.
     The popular magazines we have in Tamilnadu  like 'Kumudam', 'Vikatan',
 'Kalki' [ Tamil ], etc, provide just 'entertainment'. They give what
 the readers like to read, like jokes, quotes of political leaders,
 essays on 'burning issues' like 'Has Rajini accepted the demand of his
 fan clubs to contest for C.M. in the next elections ? What did he
 speak in the honorary function for Jayalalitha for her movie achieve-
 ments ? What did he imply when he said..' , 'six differences between
 two identical figures ( answers on Page 47 )', movie reviews, 'interview
 with Malayalam super star Mammooty', etc. One hardly finds any literary
 material in these magazines and the short-stories that one finds in
 these magazines are of O.Henry style, stories with a sudden twist at
 the end. Sujatha started this trend in Tamil and it is successively
 carried out by his colleagues P.Prabhakar, Rajendrakumar, Subaa, Abarnaa
 Naidu to name a few. The translations of stories from other languages
 are also very commercial ones like translations of Sidney Sheldon's 
 novels 'Rage of angels' , popular Telugu writer Endamury Virendranaath's
 'Tulasi' etc. Actually this story 'Tulasi' which came on Kungumam
 boosted the circulation of that magazine so much so that its competitors
 worked on similar 'shock treatments' and posted 'ghost-stories'. In 
 north India also there are many movie magazines like 'Filmfare', 'Star
 dust', 'Movie' etc., and these just describe to us the movie-addiction
 privalent in India. Though there are many good news magazines around
 like 'India Today', 'Illustarted weekly of India', 'The Week', 'Frontline'
 etc., these magazines don't serve good justice to literature and good
 authors. I remember reading a cover-story on 'Sunday' once on Rajinikanth
 and a lengthy interview with him, while I don't remember reading any
 such interview like that with good authors/poets in India. They don't
 get any coverage in the media and many people are not aware of their
 writings. Tamil poet Metha's 'pudhukkavithais' [ Modern Poems ] are
 not known to the majority of Tamilnadu, but they can recite his lyrics
 for his songs for a Rajinikanth's movie like 
     ' thOttaththila paaththi katti                                
              paaththirukkEn, paaththirukkEn,
       thOttaththila paaththi katti
              paaththirukkEn, paaththirukkEn,
       chOththukkuLLa paaththiyaik kattuRa
              pattaNam pattaNamE..'.
 [ translation avoided ]
    Songs like this or current movie songs in Tamil ( or Hindi ) are
 just 'entertainment material'. There is no literary material there.
 Many people forget the songs that they heard when they leave the
 movie theatre after watching a movie and the songs that one could
 remember are like 'Ek, dho, theen, chaar, paanch, sE,saath, aat,
 nau, dhas, gyaaraa, baaraa,thEraa.' I don't remember any of the
 stories that I have read in the popualr Tamil magazines, as they
 are of 'mystery' type. I posted a story like that titled 'Come after
 ten minutes'. These stories fade away from our memory as we read more
 such material. They are unreal and don't fit into literature as defined
 by Pudhumaippiththan.
    In India, one understands literature by 'popularity' and 'prolificacy'.
 A successful and prolific writer is honoured as a good literature and
 his 'service' is rewarded by the public. The interviews that one reads
 in magazines revolve around his stories and his future plans, and not
 the literary nature in them and whether the author has done serious work
 to add to the existing Tamil literaure. The interviews are of the type
 that I heard in a movie soundtrack,
  'En saar, unga kathaiyula vikkiraman En saar cheththup pOnaar ?'
  [ Why did the character Vikraman die in your story ? ]
  ' avan thalaividhi cheththaan, aaLai vidu '
  [ Reply : 'It is his fate, he died. Leave me alone' .]
     But it is not that all Indian languages are dry in their literature.
 I am impressed with Malayalam literature and I am glad that good works
 there are recognized by the public. Recently I read Thagazhi Sivasangaran
 Pillai's 'Chemmeen'. It is literature and I was glad to read that this
 book was acclaimed there and also in other states. This book addresses
 the relationship of individuals with their society. The characters are
 not 'Utopian' ones either like in Jayakanthan's many stories. They are
 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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