Konangi

Konangi
Born Ilangovan
(1956-11-01) 1 November 1956
Nenmeni Mettupatti, Tamil Nadu
Literary movement Modern, Imagism
Notable works Paazhi, Pidhiraa, Tha

Konangi (Tamil: கோணங்கி) (born 1 November 1956) is the pen name of the Tamil writer Ilangovan. He is the maternal grandson of the Tamil playwright, lyricist, writer and Freedom fighter Madurakavi Baskaradoss. His father is the Tamil writer Shanmugam and his mother is Saraswathi. His elder brother is the Tamil short-story writer Tamilselvan and his younger brother is Murugaboopathy a contemporary Tamil playwright. He grew up in Naagalapuram, bodinayakanur and Nenmeni Mettupatti and he currently lives in Kovilpatti, Tamil Nadu.

Described as the most important Tamil voice since the death of Pudumaipithan, Konangi has published six short story collections and three novels. His works belongs to the less popular serious literature genre in Tamil which is mostly published in literary magazines and only occasionally in magazines and newspapers with wider circulation.[1][2][3] Konangi's first short story veechu (வீச்சு) was published in Thaamarai a Tamil magazine in 1980 and from then on he went to create some of the most original short stories in the Tamil language. His stories are characterised by very dense images, a tight narrative style with a vocabulary like no other bringing a ritualistic shade to the use of the Tamil language. His works often pushes and breaks the limits of fiction in Tamil literature by abandonment of the conventions of plot and character construction.

Konangi quit his job in March 1988 and started his own little magazine Kal Kudhirai in October 1988 in the Kalrayan Hills which continues to publish serious contemporary Tamil fiction, poetry, reviews and translations. Konangi's earlier short stories dealt with the issues of Alienation, effects of Urbanisation in villages leading to farmer suicides, Childhood memories, Rural tales and other metaphysical themes. He later experimented in fiction writing a wide range of genres including Surrealistic and Magical stories of fantasy. His previous novels Paazhi dealt with Jainism and Pidhiraa dealt with a wide range of subjects using the reference of the five ancient Sangam landscapes. His latest novel Tha was published on January 2013.

Despite receiving enormous acknowledgements for his literary outputs, Konangi stays away from the media .

Bibliography

Konangi's earlier stories were inherently modern without intending to be so.

முதல் சில சிறுகதைகள்

Short story collections

Novellas

Novels

பிதிரா

Pidhira was released in 2004 and is largely a novel that was less denser and more accessible than the earlier work paazhi. It had its sections based on the five Tamil sangam landscapes . The first part 'mullai' was written as a fiction based on the travels in Andhra Pradesh.

Tha (த)

Konangi's recent novel Tha published in January 2013 (released in Dhanushkodi) is an enormous piece of imaginary work of lyrical prose which deals with the displacement of the north east Indians, Samaritans, Veenai Dhanammal,Tales from the Silappatikaram, The Music of His Master's Voice, Ancient Tamil music, Saraswathi Mahal Library, the Alipore Jail, the mythology of the Samaritans, the works of Socrates, the landscape of Nagapattinam, the mythological stories of Ravana, HMS Blake, Zen, Kalamkari paintings and other elements in a fictional universe called Tha.

The novel also contains allegories, folk tales, oral histories, ritual details, archetypes, fables, anecdotes, parables, tall tales, legends and ghost stories making it the single most diverse work in Tamil fiction in recent times.

On novels

Opposed to other novels in literature, konangi has his own conventions in all aspects of the building of a novel. His works are usually made up of fragments and it distorts the experience of its main characters, presenting events outside of chronological order and attempts to disrupt the idea of characters with unified and stable personalities. It also has the characteristics of lack of a obvious plot, minimal development of character, variations in time sequence, experiments with vocabulary and syntax, and alternative endings and beginnings.

Due to this the works are often thought to be incomprehensible and chaotic despite being implied the other way.

Trivia

Comments on works include

Quotes

Sayings quoted below appeared in magazines and from his own works.

Further reading

References

  1. "Writers' body flays political system". The Hindu. 26 December 2005. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
  2. Gupta, Vaijayanti (16 February 2009). "A Place to Live: Contemporary Tamil Short Fiction". www.sawnet.org. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
  3. Jeyamohan. "Kurralam pathivugal". www.thinnai.com (in Tamil). Retrieved 21 January 2010.
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