Book by Uroob
Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum ("The Beautiful and the Handsome") is a 1958 Malayalam novel written by Uroob (P. C. Kuttikrishnan). "Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum" along with "Ummachu" are considered the best works by Uroob and are ranked among the finest novels in Malayalam.
Plot summary.
The novel has about thirty characters belonging to three generations of eight families belonging to Malabar during the end of the First World War, when the infamous malabar Hindu genocide broke out in Kerala.
Publication.
"Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum" was serialised in "Mathrubhumi Weekly" in 1954 and was published as a book in 1958. It was translated into English by Susila Mishra under the title "The Beautiful and the Handsome". The original title "Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum" can be literally transliterated as "Men and Women of Charm".
Genre.
As revealed in the preface, the author himself is non-committal about the genre to which the book falls into and leaves the question to critics and readers, adding that he had a story to tell and he has told it. Literary critic M. Achuthan in his introduction to the book, calls it first a chronicle, then a cultural history and finally a kind of historical novel.
Awards.
"Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum" won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award, India's most prestigious literary award, in 1960. It also got the Asan Centenary Award in 1973, a special award given by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi for the most outstanding work since Independence.
References.
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