tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post3245071132635705588..comments2024-03-28T22:51:28.222+05:30Comments on The Middle Stage: On The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction 2Chandrahashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07483080477755487202noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-60987793602157776882010-06-13T17:29:05.332+05:302010-06-13T17:29:05.332+05:30>>I don't see why readers should have to...>>I don't see why readers should have to accept this without any protest.<br /><br />I believe the target audience of Rajesh Kumar would not have had any complaints. We are fed on a staple diet of "modern girl getting her comeuppance" plot points in Tamil fiction and Tamil cinema. As as long as we got our dose of weekly titillation, we never had any thoughts for the social side. My own thoughts were along the lines of "the bitch got what she deserved" till i got older and started reading something other than pulp/romance/historical fiction.Balahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07378233879302227763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-87919566322067783712010-06-13T17:21:32.658+05:302010-06-13T17:21:32.658+05:30>>because it is actually not interested in m...>>because it is actually not interested in moral inquiry or an independent line at all, but only in a contrived condemnation of perceived deviancy that will appeal to popular conservative prejudices.<br /><br />It is a curse of modern Tamil writing. Here ilakkiyam (literature) can never be just for fun or consumption. It has to do "something for society". (No one knows what exactly that something is). When Rajesh Kumar got too popular (I think by early 90s he was churning out 2 "pocket novels" a week) he had to be taken down a peg and this criticism started. In fact, other pocket novel writers used much more lurid scenes and colourful descriptions of female anatomy, but i dont remember them getting criticized. The lesser known the writer, the more steamy the book had to be to sell.<br />pocket novels were usually sold in petty shops/kiosks in bus stands. The new books were displayed in a clothesline (just like magazines). For a lesser name to compete with Rajesh Kumar's "brand", the front cover had to display lots of cleavage and the back page blurb had to mention a rape or illicit pregnancy!!. But those writers were left alone and Rajesh Kumar had to pay the price for fame. Then he started this whole moralising business. When it got a little too much, his publisher Asokan wrote in his defense saying other "respected" writers like Sandilyan too employed "shringara rasa" to spice books.<br /><br />(I might be wrong about the chronology - it is a little fuzzy as i was 9-10 at that time.)<br /><br />And regarding the spoiler - please edit my comment and remove it :-).Balahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07378233879302227763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-71866392366438334582010-06-13T12:55:53.555+05:302010-06-13T12:55:53.555+05:30Bala - You've clearly read these works in the ...Bala - You've clearly read these works in the original, so it's an improvement of this post now that one can also hear the opinions of a reader like you. <br /><br />I was interested in the writer-audience relationship you describe in the case of Rajesh Kumar. I find this sort of moralism very shallow and cynical, because it is actually not interested in moral inquiry or an independent line at all, but only in a contrived condemnation of perceived deviancy that will appeal to popular conservative prejudices. I don't see why readers should have to accept this without any protest.<br /><br />I've also amended the plot summary you described as spoilerish, the only problem now being that a trace of it now remains in your comment. Thanks very much for writing.Chandrahashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07483080477755487202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-43370372999230037872010-06-12T14:13:53.721+05:302010-06-12T14:13:53.721+05:30That was a strange choice for a Rajesh Kumar novel...That was a strange choice for a Rajesh Kumar novel. His books suck when he starts moralising. I believe he had to put in this "loose-women-suffer-bad-fate" because he faced criticism that he was "spoiling the society" by portraying "westernised women". In the late 80s or early 90s there was some controversy that we "good" Tamil boys were being spoilt by Rajesh Kumar. As a result he started this whole "moral of the story" thing. "drug addicts suffer horrible fates" was more common than "loose women getraped". This is a bad choice by Pritham. But "Kottaipurathu Veedu" is a good choice among Indra Soundarrajan's works. And BTW, "suspect that the curse is actually a cover for a faction in the palace power structure to assert their power," is little spoilerish.Balahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07378233879302227763noreply@blogger.com