From jayabarathi Mon Apr 12 23:41:33 1999
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Subject: [agathiyar] Saandilyan's Novels
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Dear Agathiyam Netters,

Here's an exchange that too place in the Forumhub.
There are several authors and writers as well as novel readers
like Vassan in this list.
Any opinions?
(Hurried Disclaimer: I'm not a writer or author).

Regards

Jayabarathi

--------------Forwarded----------------------

From: Bhoori (@ synvpn.synplicity.com) on: Thu Mar 25 22:48:34

Yavana Rani by Sandilyan

I belong to a generation that was brought up on Sandilyan. But around
the time when I was 15 or so, I started to hate him. He wrote absolute
junk! It was nostalgia that made me re-read this book.

Sandilyans problem is his formula sucked. He always serialized his
books. The first two pages in each chapter is a recap of what happened in
the last chapter. There will be a couple of pages Iyarkai Varunani or Pen
Varunanai after that. Conversations between the same gender are a.
roundabout sarcasm or b. "inspirational" speeches.

Conversation between genders typically consists of Heroines name,
"Umm" etc. Most of the times, each chapter could hv been written in one
sentence. At the best, you could bring it up to a paragraph.

Inevitably nothing much happens in a Sandilyan novel. If there is
action, he will gloss over it. Sandilyan was much more comfortable when
the number of people in a action scene is limited. So you cant expect war
scenes or fervent battles etc. from him but there will be several sword
fights. Also, technically, he was not really good so he cant give you good
descriptions about the ships, arms etc. The incidents that show off the
cleverness of the hero are what you would expect from a 12 year old.

Yavana Rani is remarkable because many of his flaws appear muted in
this book.

There are actually several incidents in the book. The hero, Ilanchezhian,
who as usual is caught between two heroines, does several things other
than talking.

It is his best book and probably the most liked one.

The only good thing about Sandilyan is that for many people like me,
he gave an idea of the several royal dynasties in India. Even when I
hated my history lessons, I read Sandilyan and much of my knowledge about
the comeback of Pandiyas or the glory of ancient Pukar or the Rajaputana
heroes comes from him.
-------------------------

From: JayBee (@ sp-69-184.tm.net.my) on: Sat Apr 10 03:12:49


>>>From: Bhoori (@ synvpn.synplicity.com) on: Thu Mar 25 22:48:34 <<<
>>>Yavana Rani by Sandilyan<<<
>>>I belong to a generation that was brought up on Sandilyan. But
around the time when I was 15 or so, I started to hate him. He wrote
absolute junk! It was nostalgia that made me re-read this book.
Sandilyans problem is his formula sucked. He always serialized his
books. The first two pages in each chapter is a recap of what happened in
the last chapter. There will be a couple of pages Iyarkai Varunani or Pen
Varunanai after that. Conversations between the same gender are a.
roundabout sarcasm or b. "inspirational" speeches. <<<

JayBee writes:

For that matter, the "sucking" formula is adopted by most of the very
famous authors when they sit down to write historical novels. In the case
on Saandilyan, the peN varnanai is more than most others.
But then, we were reading Yavana Rani when it was being serialised in
Kumudham while we were colleging. The story took hold of many of us that
we even nick-named one of our class-mates as Ili Aasu, the Saambiraani
naattu mannan.

I am not an apologist for Sandilyan.

But when you serialise a story and when it becomes long, you get into a
lot of
habits. Begging for time by rubbering the story is one such gimmick.
You have to dramatise. Every episode has to keep the reader waiting for
the next week.

Look what happened to Madhura Vijayam and Thiruvarangan Ula by Sri
Venugoplan. Unlike Saandilyan's stories where very little historical facts
are known, the back-ground incidents for these two have been
well-documented. By the SriVaishnavaite Paarambaryam, SriRangam Koyil
olzhugu, Madhura Vijayam by Kampana's queen, and the records of the
Muslim historians themselves. If the stories had been written as a total
novel, SriVenuGopalan would have done a brilliant job. We know his calibre
as his alter ego- Pushpa ThangaDurai.

I thought Sandilyan's best is "Kadal PuRa" closely followed by
"Kannimaadam".

========================================================


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