By K. V. GOPALASWAMY, B.A., (Oxon.)

About twenty years ago, there was a great rush to the Calcutta University of Telugu students, who did not agree with the methods of examination in the Madras University. The later 19th century was a period which produced some very great literature in Bengal; Romesh Chandra Dutt, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya, Vidyasagar, and others had enriched the Bengali fiction. And soon after the partition of Bengal, Bengali patriotism was at a very high pitch. This patriotism began to express itself in the form of literature, and there was a very considerable output of Bengali novels, plays, and poetry. The Telugu students who were at that time in Calcutta were naturally influenced by the literary atmosphere that surrounded them. They saw at once the poverty of their own literature, compared with the Bengali literature, especially in the form of fiction, which would most appeal to the people. The only Telugu literature that was available at that time, with a few exceptions, was the classical literature, mostly in poetry, written under the influence of the Sanskrit language, and consequently, consisted more of Sanskrit than of Telugu vocabulary. The Telugu students in Calcutta, therefore, thought it their duty to contribute what little they could to the growth of Telugu fiction. So, when they returned to their native country, they were determined to write Telugu novels. This was the origin of recent Telugu fiction, although it must be confessed that the first Telugu novel was written about the end of the last century by Veeresalingam, and his pioneer work was continued by novelists like Chilakamarti Lakshminarasimham.

THE PLACE OF FICTION IN

MODERN LITERATURE

A few words must be said about the place of fiction in modern literature. In all European countries, poetry, which was at one time the most popular form of expressing ideas,

has become practically extinct, although a few poets still exist. Belles Lettres and Essays have also seen their day. Even the novel seems to be losing its ground. In these busy days, very few men can find time to read a long novel. Consequently, the only form of literature that appeals to the busy European reader is the novellette, the short story and the drama. Unfortunately, plays are written more for acting than for reading, though some writers, like Mr. Edward Thompson, prefer their plays to be read. But, a successful play needs considerable technical skill, which most authors lack. Therefore, the short story has won the foremost place in modern European literature. In India, on the other hand, the reading public have considerable time at their disposal. They can certainly find time to read long novels, since amusements in this country are few, and business slack; and we are sure that Telugu novels will have a much wider reading population than poetry, drama, Belles Lettres (which, by the way, are practically unknown to Telugu literature) novellettes or short stories, which are only just coming into fashion as an inevitable feature of the Telugu press.

THE SERVICE DONE BY TELUGU PUBLISHERS

In the early days of the Telugu novel, the works were published by the authors themselves. The task of these pioneers was a really difficult one. While some of the authors could afford to publish their own works, most of them, who were poor, could not undertake the risk of publishing their novels, which, at that time, had very few readers. It looked as if the Telugu novel would die a premature death. But, fortunately for the Telugu literature, there came into being, under the patronage of certain Zamindars, two publishing companies each of which decided to publish a series of novels. The first of this type of publishers were the "Andhra Pracharini. Granhdanilayam" which hailed from Nidadavole, (but, which is now shifted to Pithapuram). Soon afterwards another series was published at Rajahmundry under the name of the "Saraswathi Grandhamala" thanks to the great efforts of Addepalli Lakshmanaswami Naidu Garu, who has done much far the growth of the Telugu novel. But it must be remembered that publications of this kind involved considerable expense to the publishers, while there was very little reading public, or, at any rate, very little buying public. But the two publishers have done their utmost, at considerable sacrifice of time and money, for the development of Telugu literature. It must be said to their credit that their one aim was to foster the growth of Telugu literature in spite of the many difficulties that faced them. But have they succeeded in their aim?

SOME DEFECTS OF RECENT

TELUGU NOVELS

The purpose of a novel is either to contribute to the growth of the language or to the growth of thought. A good novel ought to promote both. But unfortunately for the Telugu novel, we can say with certainty, neither was developed to any great extent. While the novelists that appeared during the last few years have decidedly simplified the Telugu language to a certain extent, they have failed to make any efforts to break away from the un-fortunate influence of Sanskrit. A considerable number of words used in these novels are still Sanskrit, and are not easily understood by the average reader. Nor was the language which they employed in any way a contribution to the growth of Telugu. But the worst difficulty was that these novels have not made the slightest contribution to thought. This might be attributed to the unfortunate influence of Bengali literature, which while enriching the Indian literature and the Bengali language, has not done much for the growth of modern thought. Great Indian thinkers have spent their energies in politics, in attempts at social reform, or in the study of the sciences; but they have done very little to help the growth of Indian literature. With the exception of a few men like Dutt, Chattopadhyaya, and Tagore, very few men attempted to take up literature even as a hobby. Literature, therefore, fell into the hands of second-rate men, and their output helped very little to the growth of modern thought. This was particularly so in the Telugu country, and to this day, this unfortunate fact is noticeable.

SOME RECENT SPECIMENS

The Andhra Pracharini Grandhamala has published about fifty-one novels, and the Saraswathi Grandhamala has produced about thirty-six. An examination of a few of the recent publications will show how very little they can contribute to the growth of Telugu literature. The latest publication hailing from Rajahmundry is called ‘Aparichitha’ (‘The Stranger’) by Malai Raghava Rao Garu. This novel is a completely false representation of Hindu social life. It was undoubtedly influenced by cheap sentimental and sloppy Western fiction. It is very unfortunate that it was so. I could challenge the author to show me one solitary Hindu family in any part of India, which is orthodox, as the family is in his novel, which allows deliberate and open courtship amongst young women and young men. I could even ask him where he got the idea of a young marriageable Hindu girl going about with two marriageable young men, one of whom was almost engaged to her, and the other openly in love with her, on a visit to a ruined fortress, miles away from the town, without any chaperon whatsoever. These ideas, while they may be very romantic, are entirely foreign to Hindu society, and it is not right that such ideas should be expressed in a novel which purports to depict Hindu social life. But considering the fact that this is the first attempt of this author, we should not be too hard on him. It must be said to his credit that this is one of the few Telugu novels which are original, and not translations or adaptations from Bengali.

Another novel preceding this one, in the same series, called ‘Ateen Manela’ (‘The Nine of Hearts’) was a detective novel. Detective novels require a great deal of technical knowledge of criminology. The plot of this novel is based on the complete ignorance of the doctors, the police, and the public as to whether the victim of a murder died of poisoning or strangling. The murder was committed by an amateur criminal, and it is absurd to suppose that any doctor with average common sense would have failed to find out the cause of the death. With such complete ignorance, the novelists start writing their stories. But then this is a translation from Bengali, and the translator cannot account for the faults of the author. The language of the translation itself is simple and good, and contributes to a certain extent to the development of the Telugu language.

The last novel published in the Andhra Pracharini Grandhamala is called ‘Aparadhini’ (‘The Sinner’) by Vedula Satyanarayana Sastri Garu. For complete absence of plot, there is no other novel which rivals this work, even in Telugu literature. I do not blame the author for this, because this, again, is an adaptation from a Bengali novel; but I do blame him for his complete want of discrimination in wasting his time by adapting such a silly novel. He could have utilised his excellent talents to a much better purpose.

WHAT THE NOVELISTS SHOULD NOTE

In criticizing these novels, I have not the slightest intention of insulting the authors. If these few leave the field, there might be no Telugu writers at all. But I am anxious that Telugu literature should have the best of all that she could get, and my only hope is that my criticism might help these amateur authors in their future endeavors. They have undoubtedly a command of the Telugu language, which most authors cannot boast of, and if they use it to help the growth of modern Telugu thought, I am sure our literature is bound to improve in quality.

But it is essential that the Telugu novelists should know a few elementary things about their work.

Firstly, it is necessary that, when they seek to create an Indian atmosphere, they should also conform to the actual facts of Indian life. Lord forbid that anyone should take it into his or her head to write a purely domestic novel! We have been tortured enough in our youth, when a revengeful schoolmaster gave us a couple of Jane Austen's novels to read, in order to punish us for our mischief in reading novels in class. Personally, I would have preferred, if given the choice, the usual six cuts as an alternative to reading one of Miss Austen's novels. Domestic novels will attract no one, especially if they treat of the monotonous Indian domestic life. But at the same time, it must be made clear that Indian novels should be true to Indian life, if they deal with Indian subjects.

Secondly, the Telugu novel can be used as the propagator of the growth of Telugu thought. Just at present, there is little or no thought that can be found, which is expressed in Telugu literature. There are a considerable number of Telugu graduates who devote a certain part of their time to write Telugu novels. They could easily read some of the novels written by great continental writers, and learn a few things from them, which would help them to contribute to the growth of modern thought. They would do well to note that these great continental writers are only expressing, in a clarified form, the contemporary thought of their countrymen. I would advise them in particular to read the works of the great Russian novelists and short story writers like Pushkin, Dostoieffsky, Turgenev, Tchecov, Tolstoy and Gorky, and the great French writers like Zola, Maupassant, and Anatole France. I could recommend to them scores of other writers from Spain, Italy, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries.

Thirdly, while I admit that modern Telugu is distinctly more sensible than the hybrid between Sanskrit and Telugu which passed off as Classical Telugu in the previous centuries, I must point out that, unless the modern writers break a way completely from the undue hold which the Sanskrit language has acquired over Telugu, there is little or no chance for their works becoming popular. I do not in the least suggest that we should do away with Telugu words of Sanskrit origin which have come into every day use, but I do suggest that the future Telugu literature should be devoted to the development of the Telugu language and not to baffle the average reader with the scholarship of the author.

Fourthly, the alarming growth of cheap detective fiction in India, handled by very unskilled writers does more damage to the literature than contribute, to its development. Detective novels require highly skilled hands. Besides, the author of a detective novel should have a certain amount of knowledge of criminology, medicine, law and even psychology. Without these, the detective novels are best left alone.

Lastly, I take the liberty of a critic in giving a piece of advice to the philanthropic publishers, Addepalli Lakshmanaswami Naidu Garu and the Venkata-Parvatheeswara.) Kavulu. While every encouragement should be given to young and promising authors like the three whom I have criticized above, they should not waste their money in publishing some of the trash which appeared sometime ago in their Grandhamalas, just because they had promised to give the public a new novel every two or three months. If they spent that money in offering a substantial prize, they might have attracted better productions.