TAMIL
Literary miscellany
NAAN — A Miscellany: La. Sa. Ramamirtham; Vanathi Pathippagam, 23, Deenadayalu Street, T. Nagar, Chennai 600017. Rs. 60.
A NEW book by the much-loved Tamil writer, La. Sa. Ramamirtham (La. Sa. Ra.) is always looked forward to by his aficionados and Naan (I or myself) should not disappoint them though they would have liked a little more of the different categories of writing in this book which is a kind of miscellany.
There are many passages affirming the writer's profound admiration and love for his mother, for her earthy and stinging assessments and observations that may not have all the readers admire the revered person.
But what should interest new writers and aspiring fictionists is the disclosure of the author's writing discipline and, the writers he admired and chose to emulate. Hemingway appears repeatedly. Also his penchant for a well-written letter. And the need to be "touched" spiritually.
La. Sa. Ra. writes about his mentor Thi. Ja. Ranganathan who was not only a fine writer but was also a self-taught mathematics researcher and a chess theoretician. He had been a literary guide and inspiration to a number of young writers of the 1940s. He felt La. Sa. Ra.'s stories were above the heads of the readers of the magazine he worked for. That led him to Manikkodi, now a legendary avant-garde periodical of the late 1930s and 1940s.
Of the Manikkodi writers, he chooses to write specially about Na. Pichamurthy. The book also tells of the three years La.Sa.Ra. worked as a typist in Vauhini Pictures, which then produced a series of landmark Telugu films like "Vande Mataram", "Sumangali", and "Devata". It was then K. Ramnoth, another legendary South Indian movie director told La.Sa.Ra. not to waste his gift indicating that his hoping for a career in films would not be salutary.
He ultimately became a banker but he continued with his writing and stayed a movie buff all through. The book has a couple of short stories and a detailed interview he gave to a magazine called Kumudam Junction. For those who had read his earlier autobiographical writings, the book may seem a little familiar. One wishes that a knowledgeable person had proofread at least the English words and phrases occurring so frequently in the book.
ASHOKAMITRAN
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