At a tribute meet organised for the late writer and Jnanpith award winner Jayakanthann, the poet, lyricist and writer Vairamuthu heaped laurels on him. He said, “It was ace American writer, poet Edgar Alan Poe who brought the format of short stories. Later yet another writer Brander Matthews refined it. Much later it was Pudhumaipitthan, known for his revolutionary writing and progressive thinking, who brought this American-European art form to Tamil. And the credit of making it popular with all classes of Tamilians goes to late Jnanpith and Sahithya Academy awardee and prolific writer Jayakanthan.”
“From literature, which dealt with only middle class people, it was Jayakanthan who started writing short stories about people of lower strata of society. Majority of Jayakanthan’s works revolved around the lives of underclass people like rickshaw-pullers, prostitutes and rag pickers. His works reflected both literature and societal views. Short story means the first person who comes to our mind is Jayakanthan,” he added.
The event was well attended by writers and celebs including Sivashankari, Malan, Nakeeran Gopal, Avvai Arul Natarajan, Lena Tamizhvanan, Muthuraman, Ravi Varman, justice Nagamuthu, Rajathi Ammal, Vijayakumari and Kumari Anandhan.
