UR Ananthamurthy

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UR Ananthamurthy ( Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthamurthy; Kannada : ಯು.ಆರ್.ಅನಂತಮೂರ್ತಿ; * December 21, 1932 in the village of Melige , Karnataka ; † August 22, 2014 in Bangalore ) was an Indian writer .

life and work

UR Ananthamurthy in his reading room

UR Ananthamurthy became known in India for his social commitment and as an important representative of the Navya movement (The New Movement) in the literature of the Kannada language. As a writer he is known far beyond these language boundaries; he was considered one of the most important authors in India. The central themes of Ananthamurthy included dealing with the caste system, with religious regulations and traditions, as well as the ambivalent relationship between the traditional cultural value system and the new values ​​of a changing world.

Ananthamurthy went to a traditional Sanskrit school, grew up, as he himself says, as a "Ghandian Socialist" and later studied English and comparative literature in Mysore and Birmingham , where he received his doctorate in 1966. For several years he was 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 Academy of Literature in Delhi. Numerous visiting professorships have taken him to Europe and the USA.

Ananthamurthy began his literary career in 1955 with the collection of short stories Endendhigu Mugiyada Kathe ( Eng . A never ending story ). He then published four novels, one drama, six volumes of short stories, three volumes of poetry and six volumes of essays in Kannada, and several essays on literature in English. His works have been translated into several Indian and European languages ​​and have received significant literary prizes, including the Jnanpith Award (1994), the most prestigious Indian literary prize. His most important novel is Samskara or What to do with the corpse of the heretic that lies in our way and blocks 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 his environment and seeks an answer to the question: What actually is “samskara”? Can culture only be sustained if tradition is followed with blind zeal? Ananthamurthy problematizes caste discrimination, the repressive belief practice of the Brahmins . The film adaptation of the novel by Pattabhi Rama Reddy in 1970 sparked a new wave of auteur films in the Kannada film . In the novel Bharatipura (1973) the Brahmin and landowner Jagannatha returns to his traditional hometown after studying in England and tries to change the social structures there. He wants to enable the untouchables to enter the temple and meets with resistance from the higher castes. His attempt to create a just system around himself and thus also to achieve inner freedom fails. Ananthamurthy deliberately did not write in English, but in Kannada. His last novel Divya (Shine / Trial by Fire) was published in 2001.

Others

UR Ananthamurthy was a participant in the international literature festival Berlin 2002 and a member of the delegation of Indian writers at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2006, where India was the partner country of the book fair.

Works (selection)

  • Sun horse. Stories , Lotos Werkstatt, Berlin, 2017
  • The Hidden Fire , Mangalam, Urach, 1986
  • Yatra , Indus, New Delhi, 1993
  • Samskara or what to do with the heretic's corpse that is in our way and blocks life , German by Gernot Schneider, Waldgut Verlag, Frauenfeld, 1994 and Lotos Werkstatt, Berlin 2013
  • Avastai , Aam, Civacacai, 1996
  • Bharathipura , Macmillan India, Madras, 1996
  • Life and teachings of Shri Sai Baba from Shirdi , Sathya Sai Association, Dietzenbach, 1997
  • Bhava , Penguin, New Delhi, New York, 1998
  • Stallion of the Sun and Other Stories , Penguin, New Delhi, 1999
  • Divya , 2001
  • Literature and Culture , Papyrus, Calcutta, 2002

Web links

Commons : UR Ananthamurthy  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The name of the family place of origin ( Udupi ) and the patronymic Rajagopalacharya are, as is customary in South India, abbreviated in front of the name, Ananthamurthy is the nickname. Family names are not common in South India.
  2. ↑ Award-winning Kannada writer UR Ananthamurthy dies at 81
  3. ↑ UR Ananthamurthy - international literature festival berlin. Retrieved March 1, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Ananthamurthy, UR
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ananthamurthy, Udupi Rajagopalacharya
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian writer
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Melige , Karnataka
DATE OF DEATH 22nd August 2014
Place of death Bangalore