K V Akshara, a playwright and writer, heads Ninasam, the theatre group and cultural complex in Heggodu, founded by his father K V Subbanna. Akshara Prakashana, its publication wing has published some quality books in Kannada.

Most people living in Karnataka have multiple identities, and the ‘Kannada identity’ is one of them. Being a theatre practitioner, I feel the question of language as a marker of identity belongs to the experiential world.
The prevailing trend in the Kannada literary scene can be described as “navyottara”.

I prefer not to translate it into or equate it to ‘post-modernism’ of the West. There are few distinct features to this trend.

The distinct demarcations between creative and critical writings is fast disappearing. Different literary forms like novels, poems, plays are fast losing out the clear cut border lines, like, to quote an example, Savitha Nagabhushana’s Striloka.

Compared to the writings of the past two decades, the current day literature has undergone a major transformation. Earlier commitment was perceived to be within the writer and his world, whereas now it is more intrinsic to the work itself. Or in other words, aesthetic has become political.

The most important feature, which is the main factor that differentiates the navyottara from the western post-modernist atmosphere, is that, for the western post-modernist there is no truth. There are only images prevailing.

However, in the Kannada scene it is believed that there are many valid truths. It is a qualitative difference between western and Kannada literature. To quote a few examples, there are several names - not exhaustive - in whose works I recognise these features -Vaidehi, Abdul Rasheed, Sridhar Baligar, Ashok Hegde, Vivek Shanbhag and a number of young writers.

There are also few writers who have not received the recognition they deserve but who I think are significant.  ‘Phoenix’ Ravi and G S Bhat Battageri, who has written a Khanda Kavya, and S B Vaidya. It is interesting that such writings are very different from the writings of the past two decades.

What I don’t like about the current trend is that there is a superficial, shallow, popularity-driven attraction that is consuming  writers. It could mostly be attributed to the influence of electronic media and also due to several writers interacting with TV productions. The result is that serious thinking and writing is suffering.  What I can only term as ‘intellectual lethargy’.

However, it could only be a transitory phase. I am still optimistic about retaining the ‘Kannada identity’. The success of literary magazine like Deshakala is a clear indication of it. Deshakala may not be absolutely brilliant, but it sure is an evidence for my optimism.

K V Akshara
(As told to Prathibha Nandakumar)