Communists, iconoclasts, and traditionalists in Telugu lit
Ramana Juvvadi (juvvadi@allegra.att.com)
Fri, 22 Mar 96 10:19:17 EST
If there is a tragedy in 20th century telugu lit, it is the sharp polarization
of writers into communists and traditionalists. How is it that there were no
non-communist iconoclasts? Or should I say, how did all the iconoclasts get
attracted to communism? As Parigi Madan Mohan can attest (we were close
friends in school), I was a great admirer of communism when I was 14 yrs old.
By the time I was 18 yrs, I was a believer of free markets and minimal
govt. To this day my beliefs are not shaken. However I find that even
today my favourite writers, kAleepaTnam rAmA rAvu and ko.ku. were communists.
Somehow the demise of communism doesn't seem to make their writings
irrelevant.
Ramana