Postmodern
A. K. Ramanujan
1929 – 1993
Indian linguist (1929-1993)
- India · British Raj · Dominion of India
- Indian Writing in English
About
Attipate Krishnaswami Ramanujan was an Indian poet and scholar of Indian literature and linguistics. Ramanujan was also a professor of linguistics at University of Chicago.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Life on the Timeline
Major Works
No works have been hung in this gallery yet — the acquisitions team is at work.
Exam Dossier
Most-asked topics
- Ramanujan as poet-translator bridging Kannada, Tamil and English
- Translations of classical Tamil Sangam poetry (The Interior Landscape)
- Translations of Kannada Virashaiva vachana poetry (Speaking of Siva)
- The essay "Three Hundred Ramayanas" and plurality of tellings
- The essay "Is There an Indian Way of Thinking?"
- Themes of family, self and memory in his English poetry
- His career as linguist and folklorist at the University of Chicago
- Padma Shri and MacArthur Fellowship recognitions
Previous-year themes
- Ramanujan's translations of Bhakti and Sangam Tamil/Kannada literature and their significance for Indian literature in English
- The argument and controversy around "Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation"
- Ideas of cultural context-sensitivity in "Is There an Indian Way of Thinking?"
- Recurring themes of family, house, memory and self in his poetry collections
- Ramanujan's place in the Indian English poetry canon alongside contemporaries
- His role as a bilingual/trilingual poet-scholar and its bearing on translation theory
- His contributions to Indian folklore studies and comparative literature
Common confusions
- Confusing Speaking of Siva (Kannada vachana translations) with The Interior Landscape (classical Tamil Sangam poetry) — different languages and literary traditions.
- Confusing A. K. Ramanujan, the poet-linguist, with the mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan — unrelated figures who share a common Indian surname.
- Mixing up the arguments of 'Three Hundred Ramayanas' (plurality of tellings) and 'Is There an Indian Way of Thinking?' (context-sensitive cognition) — two distinct essays.
- Assuming Ramanujan wrote only in English — he was a bilingual writer who also worked in Kannada and translated from Tamil.
- Mistaking Samskara for an original work by Ramanujan rather than his translation of U. R. Ananthamurthy's Kannada novel.
- Attributing Hymns for the Drowning (Nammalvar's Vaishnava bhakti hymns) to the secular Sangam poetry tradition rather than the bhakti tradition.
Memory tricks
"Striders start it" — The Striders (1966) was Ramanujan's first English poetry collection.
"Siva Speaks Kannada" — Speaking of Siva = translations of Kannada vachana poetry.
"Interior is Tamil" — The Interior Landscape = classical Tamil Sangam poetry translations.
"300 Ramayanas, 3 thoughts" — recall the essay's subtitle: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation.
"Chicago chair, not Delhi" — Ramanujan's long academic career was at the University of Chicago.
"Padma in '76, MacArthur in '83" — pair the two honours with their years.
