Malayali Memorial

The latest collection of Unni R’s short stories in translation shines with the tone of self-critique so characteristic of his earlier writing gentle and penetrating at the same time. His world still comprises mostly the rural and peri-urban areas of Kottayam his birthplace. It emerges through his words as a place with layers of life that lie beyond the merely human—the birds animals spirits Jesus Satan and even inanimate things have their role and place in it. . The stories feature a whole range of situations and characters who are forever assailed by an awareness of their own vulnerability. In ‘Malayali Memorial’ the protagonist is a low-lying wily and seemingly powerless man in a stridently casteist family; the young man in ‘Boy and Girl’ is the weepy sort yet his powerless tears seem to have the power to soften the resolve of a confident young woman. Further this collection includes Unni’s experiments with the short story form. Overall these stories break open the hardened shells of our existence so that empathy and compassion may find their way out.