“Tamil society has double standards when it comes to observing values. It will violate them in private, but would not allow the same to happen in the public sphere,” said Tamil writer Perumal Murugan, during his address at the The Hindu Lit For Life festival here on Sunday.
Mr. Murugan, who had announced his decision to quit writing a year ago in the wake of protests against his novel Madhorubhagan , described that particular time period as being one in which he actually felt the society’s reaction to the violation of values in public.
In support of his argument, he recalled how one of his books prescribed for college students was withdrawn on the grounds that it contained swear words.
“There is hardly any word in the book that the students and the teachers have not come across in their life. But they prescribed it without reading it, only to withdraw it subsequently,” he said, while taking part in a discussion during a session titled “Return of the Word” with Professor A.R. Venkatachalapathy of the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS).
Following his decision to quit writing, Mr. Murugan has since returned to the literary world with his new novel, Poonatchi allathu Oru Vellattin Kathai (Poonatchi or a story of a Goat), Oru Kozhaiyin Padalkal (The songs of a coward), a poetry collection and reprint of all of his literary works including 10 novels with a new introduction, published by Kalachuvadu.
Reminisces about return
“In the beginning, I did not even read anything. I began with a lot of hesitation. I had doubts whether I had lost my skills as a story teller. But Poonatchi dragged me into it in spite of myself. It was the moment of extreme happiness as I felt that I had not lost anything,” he said, while reminiscing about his decision to take up writing again.
Recounting how he penned 200 poems within a short span of time while attempting to return to the literary sphere, he said, “I did not even have the mind to revise or embellish them. This period gave me an opportunity to understand my relationship with poetry. I feel poetry is a literary form that is very close to me.”
