Saturday, November 03, 2007

Sooryavamsam - Methil Radhakrishnan

It has been long since I read a Malayalam Novel in the book form. " Nhangalude manja pusthakam" was the last. I like Methil Radhakrishnan and his style. He was one of the modernist in the litereary genre and had been always talked about as a different writer. I have been reading him earlier. Bangalore Book Festival gave an opportunity to get hold of his earlier book.

Sooryavamsam, looks into the death of one Chakrapani, through the directly affected pepole. Dr Prasad, at whose residence, chakrapani was found dead, on an overdose of sleeping pills and Yamuna, young poet and writer who had a night of "life" with the deseased. Jayadevan, who is a friend of Prasad, gets in between these scene as a silent party listening to multiple threory of murder and suicide. This short book does not have a strong story line to boast, but has some interesting discussion.

Written in the 70s, this book has to be looked at as one of the initial post modern writing. apart from that fact, I was not impressed by this as a fiction.

5 comments:

For Your Eyes Only said...

I am very happy to see som one recognizing Methil's Sooryavamsam. Methil is a writer who walked ahead. Sooryavamsam was written during the time when the European critics havent yet listed the features of post modern novels. It was in 1970. How Malayalees received this brilliant stuff! As some body said " Sooryavamsam was a shock treatment to Malayali's sensibility" .Still. I like the comment made by Umar Tharamel about this novel: "Sooryavamsam was the intervention of Hitchcock in Malayalm Novel"
Indeed Methil is our Alfred Hitchcock!
Sajid A Latheef
undercapricon@gmail.com

braindrain said...

Sajid,
I have been reading Methil since my college days, and being away from Kerala, could not get hold of this earlier.
I agree with you that he was slightly ahead of time.

Thanks for your comments.

http://akhil-bookworm.blogspot.in/ said...

methil wrote this book inorder to shake the malayalam writers of that time..it is an ordinary plot concern with some of his most fantastic short stories...any way he is the most important writer of malayalam..i love him for his style,his craft,selection of words....

braindrain said...

He is an important writer in the Malayalam novel and short story scene. Unfortunately, I dont see him writing any these days ( at least in the mainstream weeklies).

don said...

can anybody plz tell me where i can find articles by methil he used to write a brilliant but weird column for the weekly 'madhyamam' nowadays he writes in express 'zebra crossing'

can anybody please tell me where to find more of him

his writings always had a special kind of appeal much alike a kurt vonnoguet work

plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz