‘Literature should have ideological base’

Rachapalem says 85 per cent of Telugu stories are non-serious. Telugu literary criticism as prose was a modern concept that emerged with the onset of the print medium.

December 21, 2014 11:47 pm | Updated November 17, 2021 12:22 am IST - KADAPA:

Telugu littérateurs do not believe in the adage “Art for art’s sake”, which is in vogue in English literature, Rachapalem Chandrasekhar Reddy, who was selected for the Central Sahitya Akademi Award for 2014 remarked.

Literature and literary criticism should have an ideological base and Marxism must be adapted as per the Indian conditions, he told The Hindu in an interview here on Sunday. Commenting that many critics lacked an ideological base causing confusion, he said a literary critic should identify if he believed in Gandhism, Ambedkarism, Marxism or feminism.

Marxist literature sees with a class perception and Ambedkarism with caste base and both view points were popular in India. However, Marxist ideology has some gaps, which were being fulfilled by feminism and Ambedkarism, he asserted.

After eminent writer Rachamallu Ramachandra Reddy, popular as Ra Ra, Kethu Viswanatha Reddy and Puttaparthi Narayanacharyulu, Dr. Rachapalem is the fourth writer from Kadapa district to bag the Central Sahitya Akademi Award. A young story writer Vempalli Gangadhar of Kadapa is the recipient of the first Central Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar.

Precisely 100 years ago, Sri Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy’s literary work in 1914, was considered to have laid the foundation for literary criticism. Though Ramalinga Reddy was anti-Marxist, his literary work was considered to be progressive criticism, as it was a reflection of the then society, he said. The work was criticised by Koruganti Sitaramaiah in “Kavitha Tatwa Vichara Vimarsanam” in 1915.

Out of nearly 2.50 lakh stories in Telugu, nearly 85 per cent were non-serious fiction and the remaining 15 per were seriously linked with the societal issues and reflected the problems confronted in daily life, Dr. Rachapalem, who is presently the Central Sahitya Akademi Board Advisory member and in charge of C.P. Brown Language Research Centre, Kadapa, said.

Telugu literary criticism as prose was a modern concept that emerged with the onset of the print medium. There is confrontation between Telugu literary criticism that sees literature standards and that which sees it in the social angle, Dr. Chandrasekhar Reddy said. Literary criticism would be complete if both the subject and the object were viewed. Traditional literature stayed away from subjective criticism, but modern literature was dealing with both the subjective and objective criticism and social angle was on the priority in Andhra Pradesh.

Dr. Chandrasekhara Reddy said the prestigious award for him was a honour to literary critics in Rayalaseema. He exhorted young literacy critics to extensively read social sciences, literature and scientific outlook and give a scientific criticism. Dr. Rachapalem Chandrasekhar Reddy, who penned 19 books so far, who described his style as metacriticism, which was not so popular in Telugu, said he planned to write a history of Telugu literary criticism, as one written by S.V. Rama Rao was not comprehensive.

He also plans to write books on the ancient history of Rayalaseema and criticism of novels of Rayalaseema writers.

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