Moorkkanaat Krishnankutty Menon (23 June 1928 – 13 May 1993), better known by his pen name Vilasini, was an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

writer from

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

who wrote in

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 des ...

. He is the author of India's longest novel, ''

Avakasikal ''Avakasikal'' (''The Inheritors'') is a Malayalam-language novel by Vilasini (M. K. Menon) published in 1980. It runs into 3958 pages, in four volumes, and is the second longest novel written in any Indian language after Jeymohan's Tamil ep ...

'' (''The Inheritors)'', for which he won the

Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

in 1981 and

Vayalar Award The Vayalar Award is given for the best literary work in Malayalam. The award was instituted in 1977 by the Vayalar Ramavarma Memorial Trust in memory of the poet and lyricist Vayalar Ramavarma (1928-1975). A sum of 25,000, a silver plate and ce ...

in 1983. His

first novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

''Niramulla Nizhalukal'' won the

Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award is given each year, since 1958, by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi (Kerala Literary Academy), to Malayalam writers for their outstanding books of literary merit. The awards are given in various categories.

in 1966.

Biography

M. K. Menon was born in Karumathra, near Vadakkancherry,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. He got his degree in Mathematics in 1947 from St. Thomas College, Trichur. In 1953 he left for

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

where he started his life as the editor of the English monthly called ''Indian Movie News''. Two years later, he became the sub-editor at the French News service Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Singapore. He was also a member of the

Kerala Socialist Party Kerala Socialist Party (KSP) is a political party in India founded under the leadership of Mathai Manjooran on 21 September 1947 at Kozhikode. It began as a small party, but its front-line leaders compelled the party deep into the public imagin ...

. He came back to Kerala in 1977. He made his debut as a novelist with the book ''Niramulla Nizhalukal'' (1965) which gives a vivid description of the lives of

Malayali The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They are predomin ...

s in Singapore during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. He has a special liking for the stream-of-consciousness novel. As a novel that narrates the entire story through what passes in the minds of characters ''Oonjal'' is remarkable. Vilasini followed the examples of

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

and

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

in his novels. His best known work is ''

'' (''The Inheritors''). It runs 3958 pages, in four volumes, and is the longest novel in the Indian language. Vilasini also translated many novels into Malayalam, including ''

Pedro Páramo ''Pedro Páramo'' is a novel written by Mexican writer Juan Rulfo about a man named Juan Preciado, who promises his mother on her deathbed to meet Preciado's father for the first time in the town of Comala, only to come across a literal ghost t ...

'' by

Juan Rulfo Juan Nepomuceno Carlos Pérez Rulfo Vizcaíno, best known as Juan Rulfo ( ; 16 May 1917 – 7 January 1986), was a Mexican writer, screenwriter, and photographer. He is best known for two literary works, the 1955 novel ''Pedro Páramo'', and th ...

and '' The Blind Owl'' (''Boof-e koor'') by Sadegh Hedayat.

Published works

Novels

*''

'' (''Inheritors'') *''Oonjaal'' ('' Swing'') *''Thudakkam'' (''Beginning'') *''Inaangaatta Kannikal'' *''Chundeli'' *''Yathramukham'' *''Niramulla Nizhalukal''

Others

* ''Kaithiri'' (poems) * ''Uthirmanikal'' (essays) * ''Novalilekkoru Kilivaathil'' (essays) * ''Prathyakshavalkaranam Novelil'' (essays) * ''Swa-le'' (journalism) * ''Sahashayanam'' (translation of

Kawabata Yasunari was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal a ...

's Japanese novel) * ''Kurudan Moonga'' (translation of the Persian novel '' Boof-e koor'' (''The Blind Owl'') by Sadegh Hedayat) * ''Pedroparamo'' (translation of the Spanish novel ''

'' by

)

Achievements

(1966) for ''Niramulla Nizhalukal'' *

(1981) for ''Avakaasikal'' *

(1983) for ''Avakaasikal''

References