A Brief History of Malayalam Fiction

A brief history of Malayalam Fiction–
 The Sangam literature can be considered as the ancient predecessor

of Malayalam. In ancient times, Kerala was considered to be a part of
Tamil Nadu. Scholars opine that the development, growth and
transformation of the Dravidian Language gave way to the birth of
Malayalam Language. The works written during this period came to
be known as Sangam literature
 The earliest known literary works in Malayalam
are Ramacharitam and Thirunizhalmala, two epic poems written
in Old Malayalam. In the subsequent centuries, besides a
popular Pattu ("song") literature, the manipravalam poetry also
flourished. Manipravalam (translates "ruby coral") style consisted of
poetry in an admixture of Malayalam and Sanskrit.[10] Then came
works such as champus and sandeshakavyas in which prose and
poetry were interspersed
Major writers
 Malayalam literature developed into the current form mainly by the
influence of the poets Cherusseri Namboothiri,[12][13] Thunchaththu
Ezhuthachan,[13] and Poonthanam Nambudiri,[13][14] in the 15th and
the 16th centuries of Common Era
 Thunchathu Ezhuthachchan is also known as The father of modern
Malayalam literature. Ezhuthachan, a strong proponent of Bhakti
movement, is known as the father of Malayalam. His poems are
classified under the genre of kilippattu.
 Kunchan Nambiar, a poet of 18th century CE, also has contributed
much to Malayalam literature in its early form.[
 In 1889 there appeared the first novel in Malayalam, Oyyarathu
Chandu Menon’s Indulekha, which portrays the effect of Western
ideas on an orthodox Hindu family. Modern Malayalam literature
began around the beginning of the 20th century and was influenced
by the Western literary forms.
 Kerala Varma Valiya Koyil Thampuran is regarded as the last of the
neo-classicists and the first of the moderns.
- Emergence of Novel – major novelists – contemporary Malayalam fiction.

During early 20th century, Malayalam received outstanding novels, either
as translations or adaptations of Western literature.
The first Malayalam novel that dealt with the socially backward classes
was Saraswathy Vijayam by Kunjambu in 1892. Kochuthomman (1892)
written by Kocheeppan Tharakan was one of the earliest novels on
Christian life in Kerala.
The novelists were the forerunners and flag bearers of reforms and
progressive thoughts in Kerala. Kerala underwent a social transformation
due to the rise of the novel, thanks to its nature of questioning societal
norms and customs
The coming of Realism during 1940s marked a turning point in the history
of the novel. And, novels began to occupy a place of pride. The Malayalam
novel has flourished through the works of P. Kesavadev, Thakazhi Siva
Sankara Pillai, Vaikkom Mohammed Basheer, S. K. Pottekkadu, Uroob,
Lalithambika Antharjanam and the others. Since the 1960s M. T.
Vasudevan Nair brought about great changes in novel writing. His novels
received wide acclaim for its unique portrayal of a bygone era of forlorn,
despair and introvert nature.
The post-independence period saw a fresh start in the history of longer
fiction in Malayalam as in many other Indian languages, parallel to the
evolution of post-world war fiction in other parts of the world.
Malayalam novels written in the first ten years after India became
independent lacked the radicalism of the earlier novels. It reflected the
despondency and inward-looking attitude of the authors. Sadness became a
recurrent theme in the writings of those days and writers seemed to see
things in an entirely new perspective. The first novel that espoused this new
style of writing was M.T. Vasudevan Nair’s Nalukettu, published in 1958.
P. Kesava Dev, who was a Communist in the thirties and forties turned
away from diehard ideologies and wrote a symbolic novel called Arku
Vendi? (For Whose Sake?) in 1950, challenging the philosophy of Stalinist
liquidation of political enemies.
In 1957 Basheer’s Pathummayude Aadu (Pathumma’s Goat) brought in a
new kind of prose tale, which perhaps only Basheer could handle with
dexterity. The fifties thus mark the evolution of a new kind of fiction, which
had its impact on the short stories as well.
The trend away from social realism interpreted in a narrow sense led to
the growth of the Malayalam novel in the post-independence era.
The mature works of Pottekkatt, Basheer, Dev, Thakazhi and Uroob make
the third quarter of the 20th century one of the brightest periods of the
novel in Malayalam. Pottekkatt's Oru Theruvinte Katha (The Tale of a
Street) and Oru Desathinte Katha (The Tale of a Locale) gave the author
ample canvas to narrate the stories of a number of individuals and groups.
Thakazhi added the historical dimension by bringing in centuries and
generations. In Kayar the life of a whole community in the village complex
of Kuttanad covering two centuries and a half, beginning with the land
settlement and ending with the land legislation under the first Communist
government in Kerala, is narrated. The central concern of the novel is the
relation between man and the earth he cultivates.
M. K. Menon (Vilasini, 1928-93) attempted the biggest novel in
Malayalam, perhaps also in any Indian language,
in Avakasikal (Inheritors), probably motivated by the desire to write the
grand narrative centering around a family.
Modern period in novel that started during 1960s gifted Malayalam

Literature with many prominent writers including O. V. Vijayan,
Kakanadan, Kovilan, V. K. N., T.V. Kochubava, N. P. Mohammed,
Malayatoor Ramakrishnan, Vilasini, Madhavikutty, M. Mukundan, Sethu,
Punathil Kunjabdulla, Anand etc.
Identifying crisis and inner conflicts of human beings arising out of
existentialism and protest marked the benchmark of novels created in
modern period. By the mid-1980s the full fledged modern period gave way
to post modernism in novel writing.
– major female writers --- transformation from modern to post – modern

themes and techniques
 During the first half of the century, fiction writers like Lalithambika
Antherjanam, K. Saraswati Amma, and Annie Thayyil and poets like
Balamani Amma, Mary John Thottam (Sister Benigna), Mary John
Koothattukulam, and Muthukulam Parvathi Amma had emerged as
major figures in a largely upper-caste, male-dominated world of
Malayalam literature.
 Even Christian and Muslim male writers did not find favorable
critical attention because cultural production was monopolized too
long by the upper-caste Hindus. In this kind of a situation, women
faced exclusionism of the worst kind: the social structure simply
didn't allow them to write, for they had "no room of their own" to
engage in creative act.
 However, Kavithammam (1929), a collection of poems by a Catholic
nun named Sister Mary Benigna, became a best-seller (over 100,000
copies), and one of the poems in the collection, "Lokame Yatra"
(Farewell, World), a brooding, funereal poem justifying her decision
to abandon the material world in favor of the cloister, remains a
classic among Romantic poems.
 Lalithambika's last name, "Antherjanam" (those who live inside the
house), gives ample evidence about the level of social imprisonment
that women had to face in an orthodox Brahmin community. She
published her first collection of stories in 1937 and followed it up
with a wide range of books in different genres, culminating with her
most famous novel, Agnisakshi (Witness by Fire), which appeared as
late as 1976.
 Her work provided insights into the many levels of alienation that the
women of her powerful orthodox community experienced, much of it
resulting from pointless rituals and the burden of tradition and caste,
which served only the family patriarch and harmed practically
everybody else. In the wake of social modernity,
the Brahmin community lost much of its power, and Kerala society,
as a whole, became radicalized along with the nationalist struggle
 The most important feminist writer to emerge in the last 30 years is
Madhavikutty (Kamala Das), who is known nationally for her
profoundly feminine, lyrical English poetry and for her short stories
in Malayalam. Her mother, Balamani Amma, is among the most
significant poets to emerge after the Great Trio. The late Romantic
poet and translator Nalapatt Nayaraya Menon was her maternal
grand-uncle.
 She began publishing fiction in the mid-1960s with such collections as
Mathilukal, Oru Pakshiyude Manam, and Thanuppu, and
immediately she was received as one of the key figures in the
"ultramodern" (post-modern) literary movement. her controversial
memoir Ente Katha, published in both Malayalam and English (My
Story, 1975), brought her national attention and some international
notoriety. Time magazine featured her as an Indian confessional
writer. Madhavikutty followed it with Balyakala Smaranakal (1987)
and Nirmathalam Poothakalam (1994). The three memoirs are
increasingly perceived as documents about constructing a feminist
self. Though written in a gentle, lyrical style, her memoirs are
charged with much rebellious anger aimed at her aristocratic
background and at many of the illustrious literary and cultural
figures born in her ancestral family.
 f the poet Sugatha Kumar, who has become the leading voice against
environmental exploitation in India. In her famous poem Ratrimazha
(Night Rain), she merges the private and the public, and, in much of
her work, we hear a woman's lamentation as she immerses her whole
being into the metaphor of nature, which is being driven to the brink
of death. The novelist Sarah Joseph is involved with the feminist
movement, and P. Vatsala's fiction seldom deviates from the social
and political context of women, tribals, and the Kerala working class.
Similarly, the poet O. V. Usha, like her contemporaries Sugatha
Kumari, Kanammanitta, and Chullikad, exemplifies the unique
postmodern sensibility in Malayalam poetry by attempting to link the
mystical and modern, political and domestic, philosophical and
religious to capture the puzzle of human experience in the second
half of the century.

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A brief history of Malayalam Fiction–

 The Sangam literature can be considered as the ancient predecessor

- Emergence of Novel – major novelists – contemporary Malayalam fiction.

Modern period in novel that started during 1960s gifted Malayalam

– major female writers --- transformation from modern to post – modern

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