Western Influence on telugu Literature
RAO@FCRFV1.NCIFCRF.GOV
Tue, 21 May 1996 8:28:28 -0400 (EDT)
It may not be correct to assume that only languages like Bengali
have been influenced by English and not Telugu. Let us not forget media
like novels and essays have been borrowed from the West. One writer in
recent decades who was influenced in a tremendous fashion by the West,
in particular by Somerset Maugham, is Buchibabu. His `chivaraku migilEdi'
and short stories like `araku lOyalO kUlina koNDa sikharam' are truly
great. Who can forget Amritam in the former? One of the great woman
novelists of former years, one can even call her a great feminist writer,
was Tenneti Hemalata or just Lata. Her essays under the heading `UhAgAnam'
and her many novels were remarkably astute. Her novels, certainly based
on Western influences, dealt with the abuse of women in society, in particular
in the realms of sex.
The world is small. Just as diseases spread easily in the jet-air
travels, cultural influences also spread. In that sense, all literature,
be it Telugu or Russian, Bengali or English, become "derivative". On the
one side, it enriches the vocabulary and literary trends of languages like
Telugu. On the flip side, ceratin nuances and regional influences are lost!
Our aim must be to strike a delicate balance between the two. This problem
is already encountered in fields like ecology where forces of progress are
pitted against conservation.
This is all the more difficult for overseas Indians. After a while,
even for day-to-day users of Indian languages, the idiom becomes static.
This in fact is true for English spoken in India. The Britishers remark
that our English is at least fifty years old!
When the new age rushes forward with ferocity and speed, lot of
what it encounters on the way is unfortunately submerged. But do not
forget, it makes the soil fertile and rich so that new planting can take
place!
Greetings and cheers to all! Om s'aantih: Peace! - J. K. Mohana Rao