Works
Vikiraman is known more for his novels, particularly historical novels, than for his short stories. He edited arguably the longest surviving Tamil literary magazine, Amudasurabhi, for well over five decades (1949–2002). He is perhaps the only Tamil writer who has tried his hand in almost every genre, in addition to novel and short story, drama, poetry, travelogue and essay. He has also written stories for children and books on history for the youth in simple Tamil.
His first historical novel, Udayachandran, appeared in 1957 and he has added 33 more in the four succeeding decades. The most famous of these has been Nandipurathu Nayagi, first serialised in Amudasurabi during 1957-59, and published in book form in 1964. Nandipurathu Nayagi is in fact a sequel to Ponniyin Selvan of his better-known contemporary and mentor, Kalki Krishnamurthy, whose influence on Vikiraman is quite significant in respect of both historical novels and short stories.
With more than 150 short stories in 62 years to his credit, Vikiraman continues to write fiction for Ilakkiya Peetam, which he presently edits. Although he has received many accolades including the Kalaimamani title from the Tamil Nadu Government and an award from Tamil University, Thanjavur, for his literary achievements, he has admittedly a grievance that he is known only as a novelist and journalist, and not as a short story writer among the Tamil readers. And hence this collection of his 70 short stories, as he reveals his mind in Kathaiyin Kathai, a sort of preface to the volume. Not an unjust grievance anyway, in this fast-track cultural ambience in which literature is loved more for its entertainment value, forcing the long, time-consuming novel to yield ground to short story as a form of literary expression. Judged from J.B. Priestley's observation that "at its best, the short story offers us a wonderfully clear little window through which we can see something of the lights and shadows, the heights and depths of life in this world," a substantial number of the stories in this collection pass the test.
Read more about this topic: Vembu Vikiraman
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“The ancients of the ideal description, instead of trying to turn their impracticable chimeras, as does the modern dreamer, into social and political prodigies, deposited them in great works of art, which still live while states and constitutions have perished, bequeathing to posterity not shameful defects but triumphant successes.”
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