Tamarind History

Translated by Blake Wentworth With a narrative breadth never before seen in Tamil fiction Sundara Ramaswamy?s Tamarind History inaugurated a new era in Tamil letters. Its meditations on the loss of beloved places the shared experience of the past and the meaning of togetherness amid struggle ambition and enmity all flow from the life of an aged tamarind tree that stands at the centre of a bustling town. This town?s wild places?their mythic pasts still treasured by an old wanderer and the youth who listen to his tales? are stripped away as politicians commit to modernization in the name of progress. Yet the town remains filled with life and beauty even as it is irrevocably damaged.