Chathan's Space

Professor M. Krishnan Nair

Malayalam Literary critique Professor M. Krishnan Nair departed us on 23rd February 2006. Malayalam literature is indebted to Krishnan Nair for the guidance he provided. He attacked bad literary works with his heart and made sure that people cannot write trash in reputed Malayalam magazines. Whenever the popular weekly’s like Mathrubhumi publishes a bad story or poem he told the whole world that Mr/Ms X is using Mathrubhumi as a toilet. His disdainful attack on literature which he perceived as bad put the writers and editors on the watch. The perception of quality about a work may be different for different people but most of the time one can distinguish a quality work from a bad peace of work. So even people who do not subscribe to Krishnan Nair’s views agree that he acted as a gatekeeper for good Malayalam literature. Only brave and courageous were able to break the barrier he provided.

Budding writers used to say that whenever they publish a new work they will wait for the next “Sahityavaraphalam” the column Krishnan Nair was writing for more than 35 years . If he didn’t say anything about the work in the column then it is not so bad.

He introduced a number of famous international writers to Malayalam readers. Marquez is a household name in Kerala just because of Krishnan Nair. I have to admit his contribution to my reading. I started reading translations of Russian, Latin American and European novels just because of Krishnan Nair. When he talks about “Magic Mountain” (Thomas Mann) and compares other Malayalam works with this book and says that this is a mountain compared to them. I couldn’t resist reading that book.

When I got a job the first thing I did was buying some these books so that I can read and re-read it at leisure.

He called his column literary journalism opposed to criticism and wrote in a language which common people can understand. This made the column popular and attracted public to good literature.

posted by Chathan @ 1:01 PM 0 comments