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Along with the Sun : Stories from Tamil Nadu's Black Soil Region

By Ki. Rajanarayanan| Padma Narayanan

 599.00 inclusive of all taxes

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About the book

Edited by Ki. Rajanarayanan, one of the most acclaimed and influential writers in Tamil, these stories tell, with genuine affection and concern, of the lives of people living against the backdrop of the black soil land. Here the rain plays hide-and-seek, sometimes oppressing them with drought, sometimes with floods; caste and religion still form a large part of the social order; cattle and moneylenders decide the fate of populations; and local gods are a very real presence.

Written by celebrated contemporary Tamil authors in a range of literary styles, these are stories that will resonate universally long after they are read.

Pages: 312

Available in:

Language: English

Ki. Rajanarayanan

Ki. Rajanarayanan (b. 1922) was an acclaimed writer and folklorist. He started writing in the late 1950s. With his firm conviction that the spoken language was the correct language to use while writing, he was a pioneer in the introduction of dialect in his works. He has over thirty books to his credit, the most recent being the novel Andarandap Pakshi (The Andaranda Bird). In 1991, he was honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Award for Gopalapurathu Makkal (The People of Gopalapuram), a novel about a community of Telugu-speaking people who had migrated to Tamil Nadu. He was also the recipient of the Ilakkiya Chinthanai Award in 1979, as well as a Literary Achievement Special Award from the Toronto-based Tamil Literary Garden in 2016. From 1998 to 2002, he was a member of the General Council and Advisory Board of the Sahitya Akademi. As a member of the Communist Party of India, he was twice imprisoned in the late 1940s and early 1950s, for his support for and participation in peasant rebellions. To mark his sixtieth birthday celebrations in 1982, he embarked on the publication of this anthology, Karisal Kadaikal. He passed away in 2021.

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Padma Narayanan

Padma Narayanan (b. 1935) is a short-story writer and the translator of numerous works of literary fiction from Tamil to English, including a collection of stories by the noted writer Imayam (forthcoming), Aadhavan’s I, Ramaseshan (2008), La. Sa. Ramamritham’s Apeetha (2014), Indira Parthasarathy’s Poison Roots (2014), Ramamritham’s The Stone Laughs and Atonement (2005), and two collections of short stories by Appadurai Muttulingam (2009 and 2017). Her work has appeared in Agni (Boston), Words Without Borders, and elsewhere. Her translation of Dilip Kumar’s ‘The Story of a Clerk’, published in Caravan in 2012, inspired a celebrated movie adaptation, Nasir (2020). She has also translated several books from English into Tamil, and has written and spoken on the subject of translation. She lives in New Delhi.

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Ki. Rajanarayanan, the Pitamah of contemporary Tamil literature, brought into Tamil households stories of the black soil of his region. The outstanding stories chosen by him for this collection are as sublimely forceful as the Thamirabarani river that flows through the land. - Ambai

The black soil region and the lives lived on it are both equally miraculous. And it is a miracle that so many writers have sprung from this arid land. Ki. Rajanarayanan, acclaimed writer and folklorist, has collected these stories which are all set in this particular landscape; he is also a unique person. I would, therefore, call this anthology a collection of wonders. - Perumal Murugan

The heights of classical Tamil literature have often been scaled in translation. Along with the Sun now maps the depth of contemporary Tamil fiction. This landmark anthology, edited by a doyen of Tamil writing, showcases the rich life in the dry and parched black soil region of southern Tamil Nadu. These stories are as light as the cotton and as nourishing as the millets that flourish in this soil. - A.R. Venkatachalapathy

Books by Ki. Rajanarayanan

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