Jeyakanthan is a giant amongst the modern writers of short stories and novels. And a short story writer par excellence he is! The only other writers in the same league - quality and quantity-wise, are
pudhumaippiththan and thi. jAnakirAman.
During 1995-1996, Dr. Swaminathan Sankaran of the Univ. of Regina in Canada posted a series of articles on Jeyakanthan and his literary contributions to the soc.culture.tamil USENET newsgroup.
These articles are reproduced here for the benefit of the internet community.
Life History
jeyakAn^than was born in 1934 in a well-to-do family of
agriculturalists, or vELALars, in Cuddalore, in the North Arcot
district of thamizh n^Adu. His father mu. dhaNdapANip piLLAi
(1908-1954) had no formal education. He was too unrestrained
in his habits and was a spendthrift who lost all his wealth
early in life. Around 1935 he abandoned his wife and children and went away and joined the Government of Madras Fire(fighting) Department. He married another woman and lived with her and had two other children by her. JK reports that he knew astrology and had an excellent aesthetic sense and sound knowledge of the arts. Thus JK grew up in a one-parent family but as in most Indian/thamizh families had other adult males who filled in; in his case it was his maternal grandfather and two uncles. The garndfather was first a nationalist but later became a su(ya) ma(riyAdhaik) ka(zhakam) and later still d(hirAvidak) k(azhakam) supporter and follower of I. vE. rA.
The two uncles were C(ommunist) P(arty) of I(ndia) members. Their party connections shaped JK to a much larger extent than his grandfather's DK leanings. The example of a third, probably older, uncle
(pa. maNGgaLam piLLai) is understated, but might have been
a much longer-lasting influence. This uncle was a Gandhian
through and through, offered individual satyAgraha and was
a bhArathi bhakthA. JK first became familiar with bhArathi's
works when, even as a child, he heard this uncle recite and
sing bharathi's poems and songs. He married a harijan/dalit
woman and went to live with her in her chEri. He might have
served as the prototype for the character "Adhi" in the
\bt "jaya jaya SaNGkara ..." muzhu nAval. \et
JK spent his first 12 years in Cuddalore. His family lived in
the aggirahAram. The present day DK leader(!) ki, vIramaNI
(whose given name was sAraNGgapANi) also lived in the same
town and was JK's classmate in school. Formal schooling does
not seem to have agreed well with JK, nor he with it.
He quit school after completing Grade 5 education and was
considered a "problem" child. Unable to bear the harsh treatment
routinely meted out to such children, he ran away from home
at 12. But he seems to have played it safe by "running"
away by train to vizhuppuram where his maternal uncle
purushOththaman happened to be, at that time. This gentleman,
once a Gandhian, then a Congress socialist, had become a communist
and was in 1946 a full time CPI member and labour organizer at
the vizhuppuram railway colony. It is there that JK first imbibed
his communist teachings. However, as a child he would start asking
for his "home" and crying. Finally he went back to his mother in
Cuddalore.
But after six months he was again bundled out and sent to Madras
with a letter to another uncle rAdhAkrishNan. (purushOththaman
was probably in jail by this time as a participant in the Quit India
movement.) Previously, in his periodic "running away from home exploits"
JK had been to Madras a couple of times. Thus he was familiar with
the location of CPI's "janaSakthi" office where this uncle could be
found. ( I am mentioning this because it gives us a clue to the
importance of the train \bt rayil \et in his writings.) rAdha krishNan
was away on some party work. But comrade san^thAnam read JK's
mother's message out loud which said " You (meaning rAdhaK) went away
to reform and improve the world. Now please take the responsibility
to reform and improve this useless son of mine also." The child JK
started crying on hearing these words. Immediately the CPI comrades
quietened himdown and asked him not to worry. From then on, he stayed
in the janaSakthi office building and became part of the commune. He
lived there eating and sleeping just like other commune members. He
made many lasting friendships and acquaintances during his sojourn there.
Literary Works - a bibliography
A: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL WORKS.
1. Or ilakkiyavAdhiyin arasiyal anubavaNGgaL (428) Oct 1974
2. Or ilakkiyavAdhiyin kalaiyulaka anubavaNGgaL (316) Sep 1980 L
B: BIOGRAPHICAL WORKS
3. vAzhvikka van^dha gAn^dhi (198) 1973 L
(Translation of Romain Rolland's French biography
of Gandhi, with the help of Ms. jeyajjanani)
4. oru kadhAsiriyarin kadhai (71) May 1989
( Life of munshi prEmc(h)an^d(h) )
C: COLLECTION OF ESSAYS
5. munnOttam (212) Sep 1972 L
6. avarkaL uLLE irukkiRArkaL (147) Oct 1972
7. n^inaiththup pArkkiREn (192) 1973 C
8. sudhan^thirach chin^thanai (160) Jan 1974 L
9. bArathi pAdam (100) Nov 1974 L
10. oru pirajaiyin kural (148) Feb 1975 L
11. imayaththukku appAl (96) Aug 1979 M
12. vAkkumUlam (87) Feb 1980 M
13. yOchikkum vELaiyil.. (127) Nov 1982 M
14. pOnadhum nan^dhadhum (80) Jan 1983 B
D: NOVELS and NOVELETTES (\bt kuRunAval \et)
15. vAzhkkai azhaikkiRadhu (200) Aug 1957
16. kaivilaNGgu (95) Jan 1961
(Was made into a movie "kAval dheyvam" by
S.V. subbaiyA; shivAji gaNesan had a cameo
role.)
17. yArukkAka azhuthAn? (120) Feb 1962
(Actually two kuRunAvalkaL: "yArukkAka
ahuthAn?" and "enakkAka azhu". The first one
was made into a movie of the same title by
JK himself, starring n^AgEsh in title role.)
18. birammOpadhEsam (94) May 1963
(Actually two kuRunAvalkaL: "birammOpadhEsam"
and "ilakkaNam mIRiya kavidhai." S.V. subbaiyA
"bought" the film rights for the title story,
but the film was never completed.)
19. piraLayam (150) Aug 1965
(Actually two novels: "piraLayam" and
"vizhuthukaL." )
20. karuNaiyinAl alla (92) Nov 1965
21. pArIsukkup pO! (352) Dec 1966
22. kOkilA enna seythu vittAL? (179) Nov 1967
(Actually two novels: "kOkilA enna seythu
vittAL?" and "samUkam n^Alu pEr." )
23. sila n^EraNGkaLil sila manitharkaL (412) Jun 1970
(Won the sAhitya aKademi award. Was made
into a successful movie by the JK-bImsiNG
unit, starring lakshmi in the title role.)
24. oru nadikai nAdakam pArkkiRAL (307) Jan 1971
(Was also made into a movie by the JK-bImsiNG
unit, starring lakshmi in the title role.)
25. oru manidhan oru vIdu oru ulakam (375) Apr 1973
26. jaya jaya saNGkara... (252) Sep 1977 M
( Actually this is the single volume edition
of the four titles: "jaya jaya saNGkara",
"manaveLI manidharkal", "en^dhaiyum thAyum",
and "mahA yagNYam." )
27. gaNGgai eNGgE pOgiRAL (231) Dec 1978
( Sequel to 23. "sila nEraNGkaLil...)
28. oru kudumpaththil n^adakkiRathu... (70) Jan 1979 U
29. pAvam, ivaL oru pAppAththi! (99) Mar 1979
30. eNGgeNGgu kANinum... (76) May 1979 K
(This was JK's contribution to ( v. 1, Issue 1)
of the monthly magazine "kalpanA", started by
him and aRan^dhai n^ArAyaNan, under the "one
good novel for one rupee every month" scheme, to
improve the thamizh reading public's literary
tastes and appreciation. A truly noble attempt.
It folded after about 3 years, but not before beginning the
serialisation of JK's other autobiographical work:
"Or ilakkiyavAdhiyin paththirikai ulaka
anubavaNGgaL," which, to date, remains incomplete
and unpublished in book form, as far as I know.)
31. Urukku nURupEr (100) Jun 1979
32. karikkOdukaL (51) Jul 1979 N
"maNiyan" mAdha idhazh - malar 1 idhazh 3)
33. mUNGgil kAttu n^ilA (68) [v. 1, No. 5] Sep 1979 K
34. oru manidhanum sila erumaimAdukaLum Dec 1979
35. ovvoru kUraikkum kIzhE...(70) [v. 1, No.9] Jan 1980 K
36. pAttimArkaLum pEththimArkaLum (184) Apr 1980
37. appuvukku appA sonna kadhaikaL (192) Aug 1980
38. in^dha nEraththil ivaL... (???) ???
(38,36 and 37 form a trilogy, an important one,
in JK's opus. Unfortunately, I have mislaid my
copy of 38. They draw extensively from JK's family
history and are a delight to read.)
39. kAththirukka oruththi (66) [v. 2, No. 5] Sep 1980 K
(Later came out a mInAtchi puththaka nilaiyam
novel in November 1981.)
40. karu (108) Apr 1981
41. Aydha pUsai (75) Mar 1982
42. sun^dhara kANdam (360) Sep 1982
43. Isvara allA thErE nAm (280) Jan 1983
44. O, amerikkA! (76) Feb 1983
45. illAdhavarkaL (68) Feb 1983
46. idhaya rANikaLum ispEdu rAjAkkaLum (126) Jul 1983
(Actually two \bt kuRunAvalkaL \et: The titled
novel and the earlier "oru kudumpaththil nadakkiRathu.")
46. kARRu veLiyinilE... (455) Apr 1984
47. kazhuththil vizhun^dha mAlai (146) Sep 1984
(Actually, two \bt kuRunAvalkaL \et :
"kazhuththil vizhun^dha mAlai", and
"nambamAttELE." The second kuRunAval is
actually the first of a trilogy of which the
next two were published together as 48 below.)
48. an^dha akkAvaiththEdi... (148) Oct 1985
(Actually, the other two kuRunAvalkal completing
the trilogy: "vIttukkuLLE peNNAip pUttivaiththu..."
and "an^dha akkAvaiththEdi...")
49. innum oru peNNin kadhai (220) Jul 1986
(Actually three kuRunAvalkaL: "pakalil oru vEsham,'
"innum oru peNNin kadhai," and "kaiyil oru viLakku.")
50. rishimUlam (166) Sep 1965
(Actually TWo kuRunAvalkaL: "rishimUlam,"
and "Adum n^ARkAlikaL AdukinRana.")
51. sinimAvukkup pOna siththAL (144) Sep 1972
(Actually the kuRunAval of the title and
a short skit: "balavInaNGgaL.")
52. unnaippOl oruvan (???) ???
E: COLLECTIONS OF SHORT STORIES
53. oru pidi sORu (144) Sep 1958
54. inippum karippum (158) Aug 1960
55. dhEvan varuvArA (176) 1961
56. mAlai mayakkam (142) Jan 1962
57. yugasan^dhi (288) Oct 1963
58. uNmai sudum (188) Sep 1964
59. pudhiya vArppukaL (168) Apr 1965
60. suyadharisanam (152) Apr 1967
61. iRan^dha kAlaNGgaL (184) Feb 1969
62. gurupIdam (184) Oct 1971
63. chakkaram n^iRpathillai (138) Feb 1975
64. pugai n^aduvinilE... (124) Dec 1990
65. sumaithANGgi (???) (???)
ADDITIONAL REMARKS:
(1) There is also a slim volume of English translations of
jeyakAn^than's short stories. It is titled: GAME OF CARDS
and OTHER STORIES: JAYAKANTHAN - ENGLISH RENDERING, by
K. DIRAVIAM and it is published by Asian Book Company,
14 Peters Road, Madras 600 014. The translations are not very
very dood and don't do any justice at all to JK's genius.
(2) Under ESSAYS, I should have also included a collection of
JK's PREFACES titled "jeyakAn^thanin munnuraikaL." I do not have
a copy of this book.
(3) I have misplaced my copies of "unnaippOl oruvan", "in^dha n^Eraththil
ivaL," and "sumaithANGgi." Some of the readers may recall that
"unnaippOl oruvan" was made into a very fine movie. It was the
first thamizh movie to win an award ( The third prize or the Bronze)
at the all India level (President's awards.) Satyajit Ray's
masterpiece ChArulathA made from Tagore's short story
"noshta n^Ir" (Broken Home) won the Best film award. The
totally undeserving Hum DOnO ( of the Anand Brothers) - a
Bollywood Hindi Film extolling national integration and
sacrifice ( in the year following the India-China war) won the
silver and JK's film won the Bronze (The Best Regional Film award,
I believe.)
(4) JK also wrote occaional poetry. Some of it is quite good.
One of them particularly, "nI yAr" which appeared in No. 32
of the si. su. chellappA magazine ezhuththu (1960-61?) is excellent.
I will include it in my next posting.
There are other earlier short stories which appeared in janasakthi,
sakthi etcetera and essays written elsewhere, foe example, in
kalpanA which have not appeared in any of the collections and are
therefore not included in this BIBLIOGRAPHY. But over 60 major
works in a span of 32 years is a great achievement. In addition,
when one looks at the quality of these publications and their
influence over future generations of thamizh writers and the reading
public, there can be no doubt that jeyakAn^than is a major writer of
international standards and that he deserves to be more widely
known in India and abroad.
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This file was last updated on March 4, 99