Let us start with the preface, as one does with a Perumal Murugan novel. It begins with his exasperated comments: “All that I have written ...
Let us start with the preface, as one does with a Perumal Murugan novel. It begins with his exasperated comments: “All that I have written and all that I write is fictional. Not a word is truth.” He immediately appends this with the idea that there is, in fact, no truth, but only things that appear true, like his previous writings.
This novel, he tells us, is different. It is written with the express intent of giving “fiction the appearance of fiction.” And so, it won’t be about humans, whose perfect world cannot be written about anyway. This novel will be about Asuras whose world is characterised by imperfection and rottenness, the perfect ground for a writer of fiction. We are expected – even instructed – to be unfamiliar with the characters, events, places in the novel; this work is strictly fictional.
In the wake of an onslaught of examination results and the increased resistance to student involvement in political discourse, Estuary – translated from the Tamil Kazhimugam by Nandini Krishnan – feels like a serendipitous novel. Add to this the rising uncertainty of how college life will look like in a pandemic-ridden world.
A lot of us have had the privilege of having a “normal” exam...
