KOCHI: Sreejith Perumthachan, author and a mediaperson, has always pondered over the birth of titles of popular literary works.
Peru Edutha Kathakal, his latest book, took birth out of that sheer curiosity. In short, a sneak peek into the writing room of authors, unveiling that struggle, that pain of creativity, that spark from nowhere or sometimes, an inspiration each author had undergone to find a satisfying but an apt title for his work.
Published by Current Books, Thrissur, it is not just a narration of the evolution of great titles in Malayalam literature, but also a compendium of biographies of authors of the language.
“For legendary author M T Vasudevan Nair, titles often come in English first. The first title that MT had in his mind for his novel Kaalam was ‘In Our Time’. For Iruttinte Aathmavu, it was Soul of Darkness. But, the author never had the habit of giving titles in the beginning,’’ Sreejith notes in the book, which comprises 29 chapter each describing the writing habits of separate authors.
While the invention of atom bomb had inspired writer Akkitham for his book Irupatham Noottandinte Ithihasam, noted critic Sukumar Azhikode had described the titling of his book Thatwamasi as a lottery to him.
Apart from the secrets of creativity, the author presents the who’s who of Malayalam literature and their works in a simple but effective language and narrative style. Truly, a non-fiction by nature and content, but gives the feel of reading a fiction.
Sometimes, there emerged ideological wars between authors in the name of titles. Social critic Civic Chandran’s criticism to Thoppil Bhasi’s socio-political drama Ningalenne Communistakki (You Made Me a Communist) had sparked off such a battle.
Having written his criticism in the form of a drama, Civic Chandran had named it Ningalaare Communistakki (Whom Did You Make A Communist). KPAC had given a reply to Chandran by creating a drama Communistakkiyathu Ninte Thanthaye (We Have Made Your Father A Communist).
“You have to drink two glasses of lemon juice if you want to say a name,” says the author describing the art of titling of author and critic K E N Kunjahammad.
Says Sreejith, “I have always wondered what is the trick behind titling, which is a key component of any literary work. After collecting the details, my attempt was to make it as simple as possible so that it could kindle an interest towards the authors among the readers.”
Quite interestingly, those who speak to Sreejith, including writers whom he spoke to for the book, had shot one curious question at him - are you a relative of the master carpenter Perumthachan? “No, I just added my family name Perumthachan Azhakathu to my real name Sreejith S,” he chuckles.