> where does a novice begin acquiring such skills/knowledge.
Consider this as a novice's advice to another novice.
Four or five years ago, my knowledge in telugu literature was a
gunDu sunna. (knowledge of movie songs is the only thing I knew,
if you consider that as any telugu sAhityamu.) I can briefly tell
you what all I read in last four years to acquire a feel for what
telugu poetry is.
SrISrI was my starting point in telugu literature followed by Krishna
Saastri. (By the way both SrISrI and Krishna Saastri were familiar to
me from the cini-world itself). Later, it was Dr. C. Narayana Reddy's
Ph.D. thesis titled "aadhunika saahityamu -- sampradaayaalu, prayOgaalu,"
that gave me a broader perspective of modern telugu poetry. I tried to
read books following pointers from that thesis.
By then, I realized what I missed in my schools. As an initial foray
into classical poetry, I bought 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th class telugu
books and the traditional poetry lessons in those books became my
pass-time reading. IISc Gym library had good telugu collection; there
I read first two chapters (aaSwaasamulu) of manu charitra by allasaani
peddana and prahlaada charitra, gajEndra mOkshamu and vamanaavataaram
from bhaagavatam by pOtana; now, I consider these as "a-must-reading"
in telugu poetry.
The lahari series books of yuva bhaarati (like kavita lahari, pratibha
lahari, vikaasa lahari etc.) sharpened my critical skills on poetry
reading. These books contain critiques on most of the telugu classics
and telugu classic writers.
I don't know what help it would be to you, though. I am also not sure
if you looking for books in English detailing on telugu literature.
If you just want the knowledge of telugu literature (like who wrote
what and when) I'm sure there are English books giving a history of
telugu literature.
Also, ask me not to talk about telugu prose, I can/will only talk
about yanDamoori veerEndranaath's novels.
To simply answer the question of "modalekkaDa?", I would say that
the 7-10 class telugu books must be a good start.
Ah, another thing, if you find any book such as "telugu literature
in 30 days," plese let me know :-)
Regards,
Suresh.