In an age of dynamism in language, interests, and tastes, writers should update and equip themselves to cater to the changing literary needs, K.B. Selvamani, faculty, University College, Thiruvananthapuram, has said.
He was delivering a lecture on ‘Modern fiction and language’ at a workshop on ‘Modern age and fiction’ organised by the Department of Culture at the Vyloppilly Samskriti Bhavan here on Saturday.
Munjinad Padmakumar, critic, said analysing Malayalam fiction with western aesthetic yardsticks was improper. “Writer presupposes the story to be modernist, postmodernist, or realistic even before writing it down. This restricts the free evolution of the storyline,” Dr. Padmakumar said.
The lack of distinctive life experiences had impeded the creation of good fiction which defined life, he said.
Sunil C.E. said a hyper medium was being built over the storyline in recent times, which interpreted the whole trade on the premise — be it ideology, philosophy, or suspense. He was speaking on ‘Campus fiction.’
Abin Joseph tried to plot the historic events in the modern age using tools such as social media. Ajijesh Pachatt said the media called real events ‘stories.’ He said women outnumbered men as writers at the campus level.
Novelist V.J. James inaugurated the workshop.
