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Nalini-Poetry Mahakavi Kumaranasan -Malayalam: നളിനി (കവിത) മഹാകവി കുമാരമാശാന്
by Kumaran AsanA poem in Malayalam language. A timeless classic, celebrating all the imperfections and weakness of human conditions, and the immortal and ineffable beauty of the lives of us mere mortals. A masterpiece, of love and suffering.
Anna Karenina - Malayalam Edition: അന്നാ കരെനീന
by Leo TolstoyAnna Karenina is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Many writers consider Anna Karenina the greatest work of literature ever and Tolstoy himself called it his first true novel. It was initially released in serial instalments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger.
Kathakal Santhosh Echikkanam -Malayalam Edition: കഥകള് സന്തോഷ് എച്ചിക്കാനം
by Santhosh EchikkanamAmazing collection of stories by Santhosh Echikkanam. The narration is excellent and the power over words is really astonishing. Especially stories like "Ubhayajeevitham", "Thurumpu", "Oru chithrakadhayile nayattukar", "kaalal", "Komala", "Panthibhojanam", "Ubhayajeevitham" and "Paadha Nirmithi" proves his excellent craftmanship of story writing. 'Roadil palikkenda niyamangal' too deserves special mention. A promising book.
Ayal - Tagore - Malayalam Edition: അയാള്
by Rabindranath TagoreTagore wrote He (Shey) to satisfy his nine-year-old granddaughter's demands for stories. Even as Tagore began to create his fantasy, he planned a story that had no end, and to keep the tales spinning he employed the help of 'Shey', a "man constituted entirely of words" and rather talented at concoting tall tales. So we enter the world of Shey's extraordinary adventures, encountering a bizarre cast of characters, grotesque creatures and caricatures of contemporary figures and events as well as mythological heroes and deities - all brought to life through a sparkling play of words and illustrations in Tagore's unique style.
Bhranthan (HMT): ഭ്രാന്തന്
by Kahlil GibranThis ebook is a slim volume of aphorisms and parables written in biblical cadence somewhere between poetry and prose (First published 1918). You ask me how I became a madman. It happened thus: One day, long before many gods were born, I woke from a deep sleep and found all my masks were stolen,—the seven masks I have fashioned and worn in seven lives,—I ran maskless through the crowded streets shouting, “Thieves, thieves, the cursed thieves.” Men and women laughed at me and some ran to their houses in fear of me. And when I reached the market place, a youth standing on a house-top cried, “He is a madman.” I looked up to behold him; the sun kissed my own naked face for the first time. For the first time the sun kissed my own naked face and my soul was inflamed with love for the sun, and I wanted my masks no more. And as if in a trance I cried, “Blessed, blessed are the thieves who stole my masks.” Thus I became a madman. And I have found both freedom of loneliness and the safety from being understood, for those who understand us to enslave something in us. But let me not be too proud of my safety. Even a Thief in a jail is safe from another thief.
Chathans - Malayalam: ചാത്തൻസ്
by VknThe protoganist Chattans is a Malayalee stereotype known only to Malayalees. He represents a Local Party Assistant Leader, an agricultural worker who gives an in-depth review of what happened in China and Cuba. The book is about the struggles of the Chattans for the working people in a time when many revolutionaries became landlords after the land policy was passed. A well-crafted comic presentation of the current political scenario and it's ideologies through short stories.
Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum Uroob - Malayalam: സുന്ദരികളും സുന്ദരന്മാരും ഉറൂബ്
by UroobSundarikalum Sundaranmarum is a 1958 Malayalam novel written by Uroob (P. C. Kuttikrishnan). Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum along with Ummachu are considered the best works by Uroob and are ranked among the finest novels in Malayalam. The novel has about thirty characters belonging to three generations of eight families belonging to Malabar during the end of the Second World War, when the famous Moplah rebellion broke out in Kerala. Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum was serialised in Mathrubhumi Weekly in 1954 and was published as a book in 1958. As revealed in the preface, the author himself is non-committal about the genre to which the book falls into and leaves the question to critics and readers, adding that he had a story to tell and he has told it. Literary critic M. Achuthan in his introduction to the book, calls it first a chronicle, then a cultural history and finally a kind of historical novel. Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award, India's most prestigious literary award, in 1960. It also got the Asan Centenary Award in 1973, a special award given by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi for the most outstanding work since Independence.
Ente Priyappetta Kathakal - Madhavikutty - Malayalam: എന്റെ പ്രിയപ്പെട്ട കഥകൾ മാധവിക്കുട്ടി
by MadhavikuttyA collection of nineteen short stories by Madhavikkutty. Ente Priyappetta Kathakal has created a revolution in Kerala culture breaking the usual norms of language in theme and illustration.
Padatha Pynkili (Sukhamulla Vayana Series): പാടാത്ത പൈങ്കിളി
by Muttathu VarkeyThe story moves around marriage and dowry problems. It depicts the machinations of a wicked, though wealthy man, against a poverty-stricken, God-fearing school master, with the final defeat of evil in the end. This story is also adapted for a movie with the same name and won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam (1957). Vendor Kutty, a wealthy villager, is jealous and scheming to marry his daughter Lucy (Shanthi) to the richest bachelor of the town. He is, however, jealous of Luke (T. S. Muthiah), the neighbour, who is a kind-hearted village school teacher and has a daughter Chinnamma, of marriageable age. Thankachan is the rich man of the locality and the prospective groom of Lucy. When he meets with an accident, both Chinnamma and Lucy happen to be there and Lucy rushes home to get some cloth for a bandage, the simple hearted Chinnamma tears her only upper cloth and offers first-aid to Thankachan. This simple act makes a bond between the two and Thankachan in turn offers financial help to Chinnamma when her father is taken sersiouly ill. Chinnamma is being engaged to the Beedi-maker, Chakkaravakkal, whose father demands a big dowry. Luke makes herculian effort to raise money but Kutty is determined to see that he is unable to secure the loan. Chinnamma's marriage is fixed for the day when Lucy is to be betrothed to Thankachan. The marriage party is at Luke's door. On the instigation of Kutty, Vakkan's father insists on the promised dowry. But the poor father is unable to produce it. The marriage stands dissolved. In the neighbourhood, Thankachan has come for his betrothal with Lucy. He comes to know of Luke's predicament. On the spur of the moment, he decides to marry Chinnamma and the story ends on a happy note.
Kappirikalude Nattil - Malayalam Edition: കാപ്പിരികളുടെ നാട്ടില്
by S K PottekkattThis little book describes what Pottekkad saw and experienced during his African tour (1949). At that time, East Africa was under white rule. Pottekkad describes the geography, lifestyles and liberation struggles of Africa, the characteristics of the social and cultural life of the African people and the problems of the Indians living in Africa. These descriptions make us experience the travel, thoughts, and feelings, with him. The travelogue also mentions Portuguese East Africa and southern Rhodesia.
Oru Theruvinte Katha - Malayalam Edition: ഒരു തെരുവിന്റെ കഥ
by S K PottekkattOru Theruvinte Katha (English: The Story of a Street) is a Malayalam novel written by S. K. Pottekkatt and published in 1960. It sketches a host of characters who spend their lives making a living in ‘The Street’. The novel is set as parallel stories in each chapter, dealing with a particular character or a group of characters. However the central character can be discerned as Krishnakuruppu, who is mostly addressed as 'Kuruppu', 'Paper Kuruppu' and even 'Vishamasthithi' due to his usage of the phrase 'Kaaryam Vishamasthithi' or 'situation is difficult' in English when calling out headlines while selling newspapers. It is mostly through the eyes of Kuruppu that the novel unfolds. Some of the minor characters are introduced to the reader through Kuruppu, where he is shown to be in conversation about them with other prominent characters of the street. Kuruppu is also shown as a passive observer in some of the happenings in the street. The street is based on the S.M. Street or popularly known as Mithai theruvu (Sweet Meat Street) in Kozhikode, Kerala. It won the Kerala Sahitya Academy Award of 1961.
Daivathinte Vikruthikal (Malayalam): ദൈവത്തിന്റെ വികൃതികള്
by M MukundanDaivathinte Vikrithikal is a 1989 Malayalam novel written by M. Mukundan. Like most of Mukundan's works, this novel too is based in Mayyazhi, better known once as Mahé, the French colony after it was decolonised. The story centres on a magician, Father Alfonso, his daughter, Elsee and an Ayurveda Vaidyar Kumaran and his two twin sons and how their life changes after the land is decolonised. The novel won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award and the N. V. Prize. It was adapted into a film by noted director Lenin Rajendran in 1992. The story begins in 1954, when the French, the colonial rulers were packing off from Mahé, a coastal town in North Malabar, after 230 years, leaving behind remnants of a cultural history. Those, who considered themselves as belonging to Francophone culture, jumped onto the first available vessel to France. Alphonso ignored the repeated pleas of his wife, Maggi to leave the land, where they no longer "belonged". The new social order became more, suffocating as Alphonso's earnings (as a "magician" of sorts) dwindled. The arrival of their son, Michael, from France revived hopes of a life without poverty, but Michael went back, leaving behind counterfeit gold and plunging the Alphonso family in deeper debts. Daughter Elsie's affair with Sasi became a local scandal. Alphonso decided to leave, but the decision hung in the air. Alphonso looked around in the realization that he cannot tear himself away from Mahé and the river to which he belonged. Mahé was within him even in a society, where he had no reason for the sense of belonging. In a way, the story reveals what is now described as authentic "ethnicity".
Eni Njan Urangatte - Malayalam: ഇനി ഞാന് ഉറങ്ങട്ടെ
by P K BalakrishnanThe novel's inspiration is the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata. It may be regarded as a historically notable Malayalam-language novel as it has become a yardstick for epic Malayalam fiction, spawning many Mahabharata based-novels. The novel is the story of Karna, developed through the viewpoint of Draupadi in the reflection of her life story. The book begins at the end of the Kurukshetra War. Yudhishthira has just learned that Karna, the much-hated enemy of the Pandavas, killed by Arjuna is his brother. Draupadi, the wife of all the Pandava brothers, is unable to understand her sense of guilt surrounding the situation. However, she soon learns more about the once-hated Karna. Draupadi's feelings towards Karna change through the course of the novel. As the wife of all the Pandava brothers, she comes to realize, had Karna accepted the offer to become the eldest Pandava and consented to rule the kingdom, he would have been her husband. Draupadi considers life in retrospect, contemplating the life of Karna and unveiling his stature as a tragic hero. She recognizes the gallant warrior Karna has fallen before the prejudices of those who surround him. Karna becomes encompassed in an all-destructive war. Meanwhile, Draupadi, the chaste and dutiful wife of the Pandavas, also reflects on her understandings. She finds that the fundamentals and morals she had come to believe in life, crumbled before her own eyes. There is a sense of destruction and abandonment shared between these two characters. The book crafts a contemporary relevance to the tribulations of the tragic hero, Karna, and the struggles of the quintessential woman, Draupadi. PK Balakrishnan tells the story of Karna through the eyes of a woman in his award-winning novel Ini Njan Urangatte. This novel attracted the recognition of the Kerala Sahithya Akademi with the Award in the novel category and the Vayalar Award.
Khasakkinte Ithihasam - Malayalam: ഖസാക്കിന്റെ ഇതിഹാസം
by O V VijayanKhasakkinte Itihasam does not have a single narrative plot. It is crafted in the form of the spiritual journey of an under-graduate dropout, Ravi, plagued by the guilt of an illicit affair he had with his stepmother. Ravi abandons a bright academic career and a research offer from Princeton University. He deserts his lover Padma and leaves on a long pilgrimage, which finally brings him to the small hamlet of Khasak near Palakkad. At Khasak, he starts a single-teacher school as part of the District Board’s education initiative. The novel begins with Ravi’s arrival at Khasak and his encounters with its people, Allappicha Mollakka, Appukkili, Shivaraman Nair, Madhavan Nair, Kuppuvachan, Maimoona, Khaliyar, Aliyar, and the students of his school like Kunhamina, Karuvu, Unipparadi, Kochusuhara and others. After some years, his lover Padma calls on him and Ravi decides to leave Khasak. He commits suicide through snake-bite while waiting for a bus at Koomankavu. The novel has no story-line per se. It recounts the numerous encounters of Khasak from a spiritual and philosophical frame of mind. Through these encounters, Vijayan narrates numerous stories, myths and superstitions cherished in Khasak. He places them in opposition to the scientific and rational world outside, which is now making inroads into the hamlet through Ravi's single-teacher school. The irony of the interface between these two worlds occupies substantial space in the novel. Through the myths and stories, Vijayan also explores similar encounters of the past recounted by the people of Khasak, enabling him to have a distinctly unique view of cultural encounters across time and space. It is considered as an epic of sin, sexuality, and self-destruction. Ravi and Padma are celebrated for their unfulfilled union and Ravi's feel of loss of self-esteem due to former sins. Palmera trees become a backdrop of almost the entire description.