This is the much-acclaimed first novel by one of India's greatest living writers, translated into English for the first time. A restlessness born of guilt and despair leads Ravi to embark on a journey that ends in the remote village of Khasak in the picturesque Palghat countryside. A land from the past, potent with dreams and legends, enfolds the traveller in a powerful and unsettling embrace. Ravi is bewitched and entranced as everything around him - the villagers, their children whom he teaches in a makeshift school, the elders who see him as a threat; the toddy-tappers, the shamans - takes on the wuality of myth. And then reality, painful and threatening, begins to intrude on the sojourner's resting place and Ravi begins to understand that there is no escape from the relentless dictates of karma...
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Text: English (translation)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Khasak: A rousing song,
By
This review is from: Legends of Khasak (Paperback)
Ever asked, without batting an eyelid, I would say that the best work in Malayalam Literature is O V Vijayan's `The Legends of Khasak'. The novel first published in 1969 and the subsequent editions came throughout the years. Through Khasak, Vijayan was not writing a novel, rather he was creating a new literary language which was till that time unknown to many Malayale readers. Still, in Malayalam literary field, critics find it's difficult to replace the novel with another piece of work. It took 19 years for Vijayan to complete the novel. What made it unique, as said by Vijayan himself, the novel took the energy from its own soil. He was not merely telling a story. He took the characters out of their commonness and wrapped them with his magical literary sense. The novel goes through a whirlpool of fantasy, myths and history. One could find stories, sub stories and the harmonization of nature, birth, death and rebirth.Khasak is a rousing song. A journey to the lost ecosystem. A must read novel
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A nostalgic experience,
This review is from: Legends of Khasak (Paperback)
I read the malayalam version of this book "Khasakkinte Ithihasam" 5 years ago .Reading this book gave me a nostalgic experience because the backdrop of this novel is quite near to the place where I belong in the Palakkad disrict of Kerala,India. During one of my vacations I travelled to "Thasrak$QAll the images depicted by Vijayan in the novel is still alive in the village.It was so real.From the moment I alighted the bus at the Koomankavu I felt as if Ravi is walking along with me.He lead me to the outhouse where he lived,the village school and the mosque of "allapichamollakka".The soothing experience of the novel laced with the flavour of my native village always makes me feel good.All the vijayan's novels narrates the story of pilgrimages.Ravi in "legends of Khasak",Kunjunni in the "infinity of grace" and Chandran in "generations"all these characters are pilgrims.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Remarkable story of love and magic in South India,
By A Customer
This review is from: Legends of Khasak (Paperback)
"Khasak" burst upon the Kerala, S. India literary scene in 1958 or so, with an effect similar to that of "Midnight's Children" on Indian-English writing. It showed the way to an introspective, impressionistic, modernistic style as compared to the sweetly romantic styles that had hitherto predominated. Set in Malabar, which has a reputation for being mysterious and magical, this book retains its freshness and its beautifully wrought characters remain true to life today--the book has weathered 40 years quite well. A new Collected Edition of Mr. Vijayan's works, including the new "Infinity of Grace" is due out in Feb. 98 in a Penguin India edition. He has also just written a sweeping family saga, "Generations", but it is yet to be translated. Rajeev Srinivasan
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