V.K. Madhavankutty’s expertise in the art of remembering is well-known. He has proved it convincingly in The Village Before Time, his last book whose English translation found favour with readers. The Unspoken Curse is no different – a bouquet of reminiscences and recollections of life in rural Kerala that unfolds into a poignant story: the saga of Kalyanikutty. The Unspoken Curse tells of the life and death of Kalyanikutty, narrated with an economy of words – the author’s hallmark. It is a dark, witty story of neglect, but not active neglect, sheer neglect-passive, motiveless neglect. Kalyanikutty was born into a traditional family where the matrilineal system – now moribund – was still in practice. Kalyanikutty – middle child, female, unassuming – is natural scapegoat, a receptacle of curses of the family and society at large. In Kerala the novel, as literary genre, is witnessing a great deal of experiment both in narrative and them. It is against this background that The Unspoken Curse assumes importance. It quite simply redeems the forsaken village in Malayalam fiction. The novel is set in a rural milieu in South Malabar known for its cultural traditions and richness. It is a simple, earthy, unpretentious novel, demanding no special effort of the reader. The Unspoken Curse is a whisper that must not be lost amid the cacophony of present-day fiction. The Unspoken Curse is also published in Malayalam as Asreekaram.
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