Sundara Ramaswamy is one of the most verstile and innovatory of contemporary Tamil writers. The striking thing about his career as a short story writer is that it is in two halves; those stories that he wrote from 1951 to 1966, and those which he wrote after 1973. This collection is a representative of his writings from both the periods. Ever a stylist, employing a language that’s consciously crafted, shorn of rhetoric but brimming with satire, parody, humour and metaphor, Sundara Ramaswamy, popularly known as SuRaa, is arguably the finest writer writing in Tamil today. His novel JJ: Sila Kurippugal (JJ: Some Jottings) is seen as a major watershed, a rupture in the narrative tradition of Tamil fiction in its form and content, and the studied mastery and lapidary precision of its language. Strongly influenced by the Progressive Literary Movement, SuRaa’s early short stories reveal a deep compassion for the underdog, without compromising on artistic excellence. Apart from three novels, SuRaa has written over sixty short stories and many incisive article and essays on society and culture.
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