U. R. Ananthamurthy

UR Ananthamurthy ( Kannada: .. ಯು ಆರ್ ಅನಂತಮೂರ್ತಿ; born December 21, 1932 at the village Melige, Karnataka ) is an Indian writer.

Life and work

UR Ananthamurthy is well known in India for its contribution to society and the most important representatives of the Navya movement ( The new movement ) in the literature of the Kannada language. As a writer he is known far beyond language boundaries: he is one of the most important writers of India. Among the key themes Ananthamurthy include the examination of the caste system, with religious rules and traditions as well as the ambivalent relationship between the traditional cultural system of values ​​and the new values ​​of a changing world.

Ananthamurthy went to a traditional Sanskrit school, grew up, as he says, as a " Ghandian Socialist " and later studied English and comparative literature in Mysore and Birmingham, where he received his doctorate in 1966. He was for some years professor of English literature at the University of Mysore, later Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam, chairman of the " National Book Trust " and president of the " Sahitya Akademi ', the Indian literary academy in Delhi. Many guest professorships led him to Europe and the USA.

His literary career began in 1955 with the short story collection Ananthamurthy " Endendhigu Mugiyada Kathe " (engl. " The Never Ending Story "). Since then, he has published four novels, a play, six collections of short stories, three volumes of poetry and six books of essays in Kannada and several essays on literature in English. His works have been translated into several Indian and European languages ​​and have won major literary awards, including the " Jnanpith Award" (1994 ), the most prestigious Indian award for literature. His most important novel is " Samskara or What to do with the corpse of the heretic that is getting in the way and blocked the Life" (1966, German 1994). " Samskara " means both culture and ritual, but also death rite.

It tells the story of a village priest, who deals with the social and religious taboos of its environment and seeks an answer to the question: What is " Samskara "? Is culture only maintained if one follows the tradition with bigotry? Ananthamurthy questions discrimination by the caste system, the repressive practice of the faith of the Brahmans. The film adaptation of the novel by Pattabhi Rama Reddy in 1970 sparked a new wave of auteur films in Kannada film. In the novel " Bharatipura " (1973) the Brahman and landowners Jagannatha after studying in England in its bound to tradition, hometown and attempts to change the social structures. He wants to allow entry of untouchables into the temple and comes across the resistance of the higher castes. His attempt to establish themselves around a fair system, and thus to achieve inner freedom fails. Awareness writes Ananthamurty not in English, but Kannada. His most recent book, " Divya " (gloss / fire assay ) was published in 2001.

Others

UR Ananthamurthy was a participant at the International Literature Festival Berlin 2002 and a member of the delegation of Indian writers at the 2006 Frankfurt Book Fair, where India was the partner country at the Book Fair.

Works

  • " The hidden fire " Mangalam, Urach, 1986
  • " Yatra " Indus, New Delhi, 1993
  • " Samskara or What to do with the corpse of the heretic who is in our way and the life blocked " Waldgut, Frauenfeld, 1994
  • " Avastai " Aam, Civacacai, 1996
  • " Bharathipura " Macmillan India, Madras, 1996
  • "Life and teachings of Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi " Sathya Sai Association, Dietzenbach, 1997
  • " Bhava " Penguin, New Delhi, New York, 1998
  • " Stallion of the Sun and other stories" Penguin, New Delhi, 1999
  • " Literature and Culture " Papyrus, Calcutta, 2002
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