The Institute and Tamil@Berkeley, a campaign to broaden and deepen Tamil related research, teaching and programming at UC Berkeley, invite you for a lecture by
Vasugi Kailasam, Assistant Professor of Tamil Language and Literature in the Department of South & Southeast Asian Studies, UC Berkeley.
Event moderated by Munis D. Faruqui, Director, Institute for South Asia Studies; Sarah Kailath Chair of India Studies; Associate Professor, South & South East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley
ABSTRACT:
This presentation will examine the evolution of Tamil progressive novels in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka from the 1950s to the 1980s, emphasizing their distinctive development within South Asia. Although the Progressive Writers’ Association was established in India in 1936, the progressive movement in Tamil literature began significantly later, gaining traction in the 1950s. This talk will discuss how this belated yet impactful emergence of progressive writing, known as “muṟpōkku eḻuttu”, influenced by distinct political and literary factors in Tamil Nadu and the Tamil-speaking areas of Sri Lanka, helped shape the contours of the modern Tamil novel.
The discussion will analyze two significant novels of Tamil Progressive writing: Pañcum Paciyum (1953) by Indian Tamil writer, T.M.C. Raghunathan and Pañcamar (1972) by Sri Lankan Tamil writer, K. Daniel. The analysis will consider three key elements: (1) the incorporation of a realist style influenced by ideological and social class perspectives, (2) the portrayal of labor and caste within Tamil progressive narratives, and (3) the profound influence of international literary trends, particularly Soviet realism as exemplified in Maxim Gorky’s widely translated, iconic novel Mother (1906).
SPEAKER BIO
Vasugi Kailasam is an Assistant Professor (Tamil Studies) in the Department of South & Southeast Asian Studies at UC Berkeley. Her research concerns global Tamil literatures, postcolonial literature and filmic and digital cultures of contemporary South Asia and its diasporas. Specifically, her work examines narrative forms and its connections to South Asian cultural identity formations, race, and ethnic politics. Before arriving at UC Berkeley, Professor Kailasam was a lecturer of Tamil Studies at the South Asian Studies Programme (SASP) in the National University of Singapore from 2015- 2019.
Professor Kailasam’s first book project, The Tamil realist novel in South and Southeast Asia, investigates the growth and evolution of the postcolonial Tamil realist novel produced in India, Sri Lanka, and the Southeast Asian countries of Singapore and Malaysia from the 1940s to the 1980s. This research has been funded by grants from The Townsend Center of the Humanities, Humanities Research Fellowship (funded by the Andrew W. Mellon grant), Hellman Society of Fellows and an AIIS - NEH senior fellowship.
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Event made possible with the support of the Sarah Kailath Chair of India Studies
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PARKING INFORMATION
Please note that parking is not always easily available in Berkeley. Take public transportation if possible or arrive early to secure your spot.
