Madhurantakam Rajaram (1930-1999) is considered to be one among the few writers who have taken the genre of Telugu short story to sublime heights. Though he wrote novels, plays, lyrics etc., in addition to short stories, he is remembered as a story writer because of more than 300 stories he wrote, the number more than adequately matched by their artistic quality.
Rajaram was essentially a humanist at heart, with the human being at the centre of his creative writings. Most of his stories stress the importance of steadfastly holding on to values even when amidst extremely adverse conditions. Rajaram also depicted the complexities and paradoxes of life. He spoke of his ideals as a writer through a character in one of his stories, ‘Uttaravu’, when he wrote “There should be an abiding interest in life around. Life should be keenly observed and perceived with empathy. A writer should have a sense of devotion towards human beings and human life”. Rajaram viewed human beings in all their variety. According to him, “Good and evil are not two separate entities, independent of each other. The presence of an element of good in the bad and vice-versa is as natural as the rising of the Sun. The complexity, the variety and the ever evolving nature of human behaviour are eternal resources for a story-writer.” He felt that a writer should be independent and not be affiliated to any political organisation.
The book under review is a monograph written by Singamaneni Narayana (himself a committed story-writer and scholar) on the life and literary works of Rajaram. The monograph has six chapters. The author discusses the backdrop that shaped Rajaram as a writer. The chapter on the life of Rajaram, concludes with his oft-repeated statement: “We should go on writing. It should be our way of living.” The third chapter forms the nucleus of the monograph and deals with the short stories of Rajaram; the next ones briefly deal with his novels and critical writings. The concluding chapter sums up Rajaram’s personality.
Singamaneni Narayana had the advantage of knowing Rajaram from close quarters and uses it successfully, while dealing with the personal and literary life of the latter. Narayana along with Rajaram was the co-editor of the first volume of the series on Short story writers of Telugu and their art (Telugu Kathakulu - Kathana Reethulu).
Rajaram authored a slender book in Telugu on the literary history of Chittoor district but the bibliography provided in the monograph does not include it. The monograph could have also discussed Rajaram’s lyrical contributions and his translations as well, in some detail.
Madhuranthakam Rajaram
Telugu Monograph by Singamaneni Narayana, Sahitya Akademi,2013. Rs .50.
