Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Krishnaveni (8th Edition)

Just finished reading this popular novel by well-known author - Ranganayakamma. It's her first novel, written at the age of 19 in 1959. The latest edition has a specialty: the author added a new foreword and lots of footnotes. The author has ruthlessly played the role of self-critic and pointed out the many awkward things in her work. She honestly attributed her inadequacy to her immaturity at the time of writing it.


I never read this novel before but reading it along with the author's current analysis of the story and the characters felt like an education to me. The work completely awed me. I'm sure the effect would have not been the same without the footnotes, though I suspect that I would have been appalled by the protagonist's foolish behavior. I couldn't approve the whole love story part since the scenes seemed too far-fetching. Also, Madhav failed to make an impression on me. As the author herself admitted, the characters lacked clarity and are a mix of good and bad. I agree with the author's hindsight that the only solid character was Renuka and she had potential to occupy a greater part of the story.

The way, the author dissected the characters and certain conversations and opinions provided so much food for thought. I know that Krishnaveni doesn't need an introduction to Telugu literature lovers but this 8th edition is truly remarkable for the aforementioned reasons and more.

No comments: