''Ayussinte Pusthakam'' (transl. The Book of Passing Shadows) ( ml, ആയുസ്സിന്റെ പുസ്തകം), is a well-known Indian

Malayalam language Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was d ...

novel by

C. V. Balakrishnan C. V. Balakrishnan ( ml, സി. വി. ബാലകൃഷ്ണൻ; born 24 September 1952) is an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. His novels and short stories encompass the emotional issues related to mass culture, sexual politics, fate ...

Development

Writing

Balakrishnan began writing this novel when he moved to

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

in late-1970s. An old edition of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

at St. Paul's Cathedral in Calcutta triggered the book in him. It took him three years to complete the novel. Says the author: "All the characters and villages of Christian settlers were in my mind long before I began thinking about writing ''Ayussinte Pusthakam''. The characters are based on people I met during my course as a school teacher in a village in Kasaragod. I wrote ''Ayussinte Pusthakam'' at a time when I was going through an emotionally difficult period; my relation with my father was strained and I was feeling very lonely. ''Ayussinte Pusthakam'' is about loneliness. The book is also about sin and sadness, written in a style and language that have been judiciously borrowed from The Bible." The protagonist in this novel is Yohannan, and the plot revolves around his ambiguities concerning sexual desire."Book of life"
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Translations

''Ayussinte Pusthakam'' has been translated into Tamil and English since its publication in 1984. Following is a list containing information about the translated works.

English translation

The book was translated from Malayalam into English by T.M. Yesudasan, a former associate professor and head, Department of English,

CMS College Kottayam The CMS College (CMS College Kottayam) is the first Western-style college in India. Overview The college now has 17 Undergraduate and 18 postgraduate departments. There are six research centres in the college. Research work leading to the degr ...

. He has contributed to journals and anthologies on literary and cultural studies including the Penguin collection, ''No Alphabet in Sight: New Dalit Writing from South India''.

Adaptations

Drama

The novel was adapted into an experimental play by Suveeran.Fix a date with theatre
The Hindu, 28 May 2008. The play received Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi Award of 2008, and participated in several international festivals.

References

2009 Indian novels Indian plays Malayalam novels {{2000s-play-stub