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Book Review
Fiction anthology
ZACHARIAYUDE THIRANJEDUTHA KATHAKAL: Rs. 110.
MATHAM, SAMSKARAM, MATHAMAULIKAVADHAM: Rs. 100. By Zacharia; Published by Current Books, Round West, Thrissur-680001.
THE FIRST book is a collection of 35 of Zacharia's short stories, selected by the writer himself. Sure enough, the book recycles stories that are in the seven collections that preceded it. Its chief merit is that it gives the best of Zacharia in a single volume.
The stories are illustrative of the variety of Zacharia's literary themes. If "Oridath" is an allegory on the human situation, "Theevandikkolla" is a satire on armed revolution. "Kannadikaanmolavum" is the fictional reconstruction of a day in the life of Jesus of Nazareth after his return home from his long and unrecorded travels. "Salaam America" is the soliloquy of a Malayalee male banished to his village home after a sojourn with his wife, a nurse in America.
The noted critic, K. P. Appan, says in the introduction: "Every sentence of Zacharia is a move. This writer advances with the language the way a leading soccer star leaps forward from the attacking line towards the goal mouth." In recent years, he has emerged as a major commentator on social and political matters, and the same sense of history informs his speeches and writings on these subjects, contained in the second book, which is a collection of essays.
The rising tide of religious fundamentalism is a major concern of Zacharia, and he has been engaged in a relentless campaign to awaken the Kerala society to the dangers that it poses. Quite naturally Hindutva forces come up for special scrutiny, but his inquiry is not confined to the political arena. With great zeal he goes over the social and cultural scene with a fine-tooth comb and comes up with evidence of fundamentalism almost everywhere. In the process, he has invited the charge of seeing ghosts of fundamentalism in every cupboard.
Although no form of fundamentalism escapes his attention, the Sangh Parivar receives more attention than other similar outfits in view of the enormous spread of its influence in the recent past.
Excerpts from a recorded conversation between Zacharia and another leading writer, Anand, are included as an appendix.
B.R.P. BHASKAR
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