Author: Vasantha Surya
Publisher: Manas
Year: 2000
Language: English
Pages: 377
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8186852301
Description
These stories, written by some of today's finest writers in Tamil between the 60s and 90s, reflect the slowly but surely changing nature of Tamil life, without attempting to be overly correct, politically or morally.
Replete with history, and yet eager to assimilate change, Tamil society is a microcasm of the traditional tensions and resources of Indian society, and an authentic modern consciousness.
In these stories, written between 60s and 90s, by some of today's finest writers in Tamil, the characters are recognizable as people everywhere. They represent a certain world-view in which old ideas of honor and prestige, and the carefully cultivated attitude of meek resignation are yielding place to an ethic of struggle, strategic compromise, and sometimes bitter retreat.
The Tamil language is transformed in the process, and is accommodating itself to new social values and transactions. It is the vessel in which the alchemy of humor, irony and compassion transfigures and bestows dignity on the ways in which the Tamils cope and remain sane in a time of bewildering change.