NANDANVAN & OTHER STORIES, Short Fiction.
October 14, 2021
The Glass Bead Curtain
October 12, 2021
“A Bridge Across Oceans” By Jaydeep Sarangi
After the overwhelming success in terms of readership and reviews of Nandanvan & Other Stories (New Delhi, Orient BlackSwan, 2011). Genesis: Select Stories, a collection of fifteen elegantly crafted stories, some of the finest by Lakshmi Kannan, creates mesmerising literary vibes among her readers and admirers. Her pen is never dried for making her art perfect, innovative and interesting for all. There lies the art of her life. Like a master cook, she knows how to prepare the stories out of the ingredients at hand. A powerful imagination enlivens even rusty metals and bricks; such imagination fuels the art of creation into a reservoir of rich artistry in words.
Some of the stories in this collection are fresh with the aroma of their Tamil sources. A classic definition of a short story is that one should be able to read it in one sitting. Stories in Kannan’s latest collection are marked by economy of expressions and a concentrated form of narrative techniques which are essential requirements for quality short stories. In the hundred and sixty-five pages, there is hardly a character we cannot relate to. All the characters portrayed are convincing in their daily acts. Padma, Gopal, Narendra, Padmini and Lakshmi (self-portrait) ae dappled with life’s hues.
Short stories tend to be less complex than novels and autobiographies. Usually, a short story focuses on one incident; has a single plot’ one setting, and a small period of time. Lakshmi Kannan follows these parameters minutely like a classicist. “Islanders,” “Phantoms of Truth”, “Cryptic Chords”, “Genesis” and other stories in this collection are about relationship, academia, life’s colourful shades and mosaics of romance. “Sable Shadows” (From Iowa diary) is about an international culture contact through an Indian woman and a Nigerian man.
“Genesis” begins with what exactly is a story? And then gives a vivid account of life and associated philosophy through Padma and Bill. References to Yudhishthra, Durvasasa Muni, Sri Ramakrishna and the Gita bring out the scope for language variance which is embedded in the inherent flexibility and in-built liberality of English language. In “Sable Shadows”, the writer’s conversation with Vincent Chukwuemeka Ike unfolds different socio-political issues of India and Nigeria – Sati, Tamil as a Dravidian language, the marriage system in Nigeria and intellectual apartheid. The story is a conscious narration of the self as seen through social scales.
Review of Genesis: Select Stories Muse India, Issue 57: Sept-Oct, 2014
A Bridge Across Oceans By Jaydeep Sarangi
For Kannan, linguistic plurality adds polyphony to the corpus. Indian sensibility has been portrayed brilliantly in a typical Indian style, only the words and expressions are English. The loaded stories take advantage of this essential liberty of the tongue and make maximum use of hybrid and glossed regional words and phrases. Kannan is a seasoned writer who makes such linguistic hybridity creative as well as a resourceful.
In her “Author’s Note”, Kannan writes “Stories can be a bag of surprises.” Is India Gate an entrance or an exit? The suggestions are subtle. We read Tagore’s stories again and again because of the deep meaning and openness in the ending. Kannan also believes in “open ended” structures where the final impression is left to the readers. The autonomy of possibilities makes the texts interesting.
It’s hard to forget the conclusion of the story “Sable Shadows”: ‘The black panther found its way through the tangled human jungle with a natural, nimble ease. It walked alone slowly, in splendid isolation, the dignified king of the jungle. A pedigree panther with a coat that shone even in the darkness. You saw strength in every movement of its sinewy limbs. The panther walked with insouciance amidst the screeching, smirking, noisy animals in the jungle and vanished into what was once known to some as the Dark Continent.”
Man-made cultural divide falls apart by literary vibes. The hint is subtle but meaningful. Stories connect continents.
A story for Kannan is an echo, asking a shadow to dance. For her, life holds a promise of connection between the outer world and true self. Lakshmi Kannan’s immaculate grip over her medium is definitely commendable as it enables her to shift from one realm of human experience to another so seamlessly and effortlessly. On the whole, this very interesting collection of stories can be definitely recommended for every story lover.
The volume is enriched by a scholarly introduction by Professor Jasbir Jain in which she details different master keys to unlock the casket of Kannan’s stories effortlessly.
Review of Genesis: Select Stories Muse India, Issue 57: Sept-Oct, 2014
“Multiple Avatars of Indian Women” By Anita Balakrishnan
‘In most of the stories she reveals her characters negotiating the schism between traditional expectations regarding women and the new possibilities precipitated by modernity.
With deft strokes and sharply observed descriptions, Lakshmi Kannan creates characters who are trying to negotiate the slippery slope of modern life while simultaneously following age-old social mores and religious rituals. This is familiar territory with novelists as disparate as Kamala Markandeya, Shashi Deshpande and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni exploring the ramifications of this conflict in their fiction. What sets Lakshmi apart is her seemingly effortless ability to capture the flavour of the Tamil Brahmin milieu. Her deep knowledge of the Indian classics and philosophy enables her to introduce an intertextual dimension to her stories.
It is in the frequently anthologized story “Rhythms” that the consummate skill of Lakshmi Kannan evoking a typical summer day in Chennai is on display. The sights, sounds, smells and the varied sensory experiences of Mylapore and the hallowed ambience of Kapaleeshwarar are the setting for Kannan to highlight the compassion and tolerance of Tamil society toward a paralysed man in the temple.’
“Multiple Avatars of Indian Women”, The Book Review, May 2014
“Multiple Avatars of Indian Women” By Anita Balakrishnan
Lakshmi Kannan focuses her gaze primarily on Indian women in their various avatars – daughter, wife, mother, student, working professional, though some of the stories do have male protagonists. In most of the stories she reveals her characters negotiating the schism between traditional expectations regarding women and the new possibilities precipitated by modernity. Kannan also brings to her stories her wealth of knowledge, mythic, spiritual and literary.
With deft strokes and sharply observed descriptions, Lakshmi Kannan creates characters who are trying to negotiate the slippery slope of modern life while simultaneously following age-old social mores and religious rituals. In most of the stories she reveals her characters negotiating the schism between traditional expectations regarding women and the new possibilities precipitated by modernity. Kannan also brings good examples of this.
A deep irony undergirds the narrative of “The Coming of Devi”. Set against the backdrop of the installation of a Devi idol in the temple, the story brilliantly weaves together the stranglehold of tradition on the community, the narrow mindedness that results and the dashed hopes of Kausalya, gifted with an aptitude for abstract mathematics, in whom her professors in college foresaw a brilliant future. Marriage dashed the hopes of Kausalya for her husband was shocked by her scholarly ambitions, while the same man encouraged his two daughters to excel in their academic performance.
“Urvashi” is a dream narrative that foregrounds the voice of the narrator debating with the celestial nymph, Urvashi. In an offhand, light hearted manner, the nymph reveals to the narrator some home truths about men, how a woman is desirable as long as she is unattainable!
The blindness and smug self-satisfaction of upper middle-class families when confronted by natural calamities such as floods is the central theme of the story “Islanders”. Pankajam, a young wife and mother agonizes over the plight of thousands who are either drowning or dying of starvation. The self-centredness of her family who go about their routine without a thought for the suffering of others, nauseates her.
“India Gate” looks at the severe marginalisation of an educated career woman in an orthodox Tamil Brahmin family.
It is in the frequently anthologized story “Rhythms” that the consummate skill of Lakshmi Kannan evoking a typical summer day in Chennai is on display. The sights, sounds, smells and the varied sensory experiences of Mylapore and the hallowed ambience of Kapaleeshwarar are the setting for Kannan to highlight the compassion and tolerance of Tamil society toward a paralysed man in the temple.
“Multiple Avatars of Indian Women”, The Book Review, May 2014