Love Stands Alone

The breathtaking poems in Love Stands Alone speak to us across time space language and culture. The interior akam and the exterior puram form their two overarching themes. The akam poems are concerned with love in all its varied situations Clandestine and Illicit Conjugal Happiness and Infidelity Separation and Union. The puram poems encompass all other aspects of worldly life Wars and battlefields the munificence of kings and chieftains and the wisdom of bards. With a comprehensive introduction by A.R. Venkatachalapathy M.L. Thangappa's translations delight the senses and bring alive a world long past. About the Author M.L. Thangappa taught Tamil for over twenty-five years in the various colleges of the Puducherry government until his retirement in 1994. He has published a number of books of poetry and essays in Tamil and has translated from Tamil into English Sangam poetry and the songs of Ramalinga Swamigal Subramania Bharati and Bharathidasan. He was awarded the Bharathidasan Award (1991) and the Sirpi Literary Award (2007) for lifetime achievement in poetry. He has won the Sahitya Akademi awards for both children's literature and translation. His translation of Muttollayiram has appeared in Penguin Classics as Red Lilies and Frightened Birds (edited by A.R. Venkatachalapathy).