KOCHI: The protagonist in ‘Sakshi’ is immune to emotional currents and stays unmoved by death. But, as his creator George Varghese aka Kakkanadan is laid to rest, there ends an era of intellectual and emotional honesty in Malayalm literature. His books made inroads into the dark abysses of selfhood, exploring an annoying terrain of reality. Kakkanadan may not be the harbinger of modernism in Malayalam, but his diction marked a clear break from the neo-realstic norms of his time.A contemporary of O V Vijayan, M Mukundan and M P Narayana Pillai, generally hailed as the high priests of the movement, Kakkanadan’s diction was generally a fierce revolt against the dry sensibility activated by socialist realism. The writer spilled forth the pangs of an acute existential angst with outright disregard for the laws of morality. Towards the end of 1960s and early 70s, when the tempestuous winds of modernism hit Kerala, his pen subverted all the value concepts, begetting a new form of literature, severe and powerful.His diction was an aggressive subversion of what was thought to be the ideal literature of the time. He acknowledged the libidinal urge as a reality and many of his works research how to encounter this primal instinct in terms of value and tradition. He sorted his characters from social peripheries and redefined women and female sexuality in works like ‘Parangimala’ and ‘Orotha.’Scattered across almost all his works are the unruly modernist images, the politically potent ‘Ushnameghala’ being the lone exception for its thematic and stylistic closeness to realism. While ‘Vasoori’ irked the society for its unbridled boldness, Parangimala contrived new equations of sexuality while certifying the hokum of being. The former was also noted for the brilliant exploration of existential perils and situations that are typical to modernist literature. His syntax was natural, poetic and spontaneous and his craft carried a mark of fluidity. Many of his short stories explore the polarity of being. While ‘Sreechakram,’ meticulously set against the backdrop of “tantric” arts, bears a volatile feminist angle, ‘Veruthe’ is all about individuals fighting absurdity and sterility. The author has definitely left behind a solid and meaningful creative legacy for the generations to come.
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