Sociology Through Literature
A Study of Kaaroor's Stories
S. Devadas Pillai
ISBN 9780367785796
Routledge India
242 Pages
£29.59
PRESENTATION
This book presents a comprehensive study of nearly 100 of Kaaroor’s short stories. Kaaroor Neelakanta Pillai is one among the Big Six of the ‘new wave’ in Malayalam literature which began in the mid-1940s. The Big Six and their immediate followers wrote about the common man, peasants, pavement-dwellers, fishermen, rickshaw-pullers, underpaid school teachers — their lives, aspirations and vulnerabilities. By treating Kaaroor’s stories as case studies, the book takes a sociological approach to understanding the representation of a wide array of themes: romantic overtones, erotic pursuits, marital episodes, issues of family, lives of children, behavioural patterns, shades of greed, the idea of spirituality and politics in Malayalam literature.
With its annotated transcreation and detailed commentary, this book brings Kaaroor’s works to the general reader, and will be useful to scholars and researchers of South Asian literature, English literature, linguistics, cultural studies, besides those interested in Malayalam literature and the Malayali/Indian diaspora across the world.
Table of Contents:
Foreword by Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan. Preface. 1. Introductory Notes on the ‘Big Six’ 2. Romantic Overtones 3 Erotic Pursuits 4. Marital Episodes 5. On Small Children and Teenagers 6. Families: Sinking, Troubled 7. ‘Sir’ Stories 8. Sirs: The Other Side 9. Dictates of Fate 10. Behavioural Patterns 11. Some Social Issues 12. Political Themes 13. Shades of Greed 14. Profiles of the Poor 15. Some Uncommon People 16. Social Dropouts 17. Spiritual Themes 18. Some More Episodes 19. Tuskers and Mahouts 20. Kaaroor’s Zoo 21. Sociology Through Literature: Some Endnotes. References. Index