Pothikkettu is a monthly editorial that ‘wraps up’ the issue for our readers.
Dear Reader,
The proliferation of literature festivals in Kerala over the last two years indicate a renewed desire in engaging with the region’s multiple literary histories and influences. Though some of these festivals and the repeated emphasis on themes and speakers may generate some form of fatigue and critique both with respect to what is being articulated as literature and who is imagined as the reader and the writer, the overarching spirit that the literary legacy of Kerala needs to be renewed and revitalised cannot be ignored.
The recent death of the renowned Malayalam novelist MT Vasudevan Nair and the subsequent responses that it evoked from a range of readers who may have fully dived into the auteur’s magnanimous contribution or merely dipped toes in select works, is also an extension of this spirit. As a reader who had grown up reading MT, Anjana’s piece is therefore an example of how a reader who grew up on MT turns back to reflect on the sociohistorical circumstances of these novels. By unhesitatingly prying open beloved characters in novels like Manju among others, Anjana’s article may be read as a critical reflection of a reader who, while acknowledging MT’s giant influence on the literary public in Kerala, is also interested in examining the writer’s prejudices.
Mohammed Sadik’s piece on how Malabar Muslim communities engaged with images despite being critical of its rooh, is a thoughtful analysis on how the Muslim community engaged with modernity. By analysing how images were presented in an early Arabi-Malayalam newspaper including reader’s grievances on how the paper was moving away from its Islamic principles, Sadik shows how Islamic jurisprudence had the adaptive capacity to address modern technology and other related advances.
Happy reading!
