23 Facts About Pudhumaipithan

Viruthachalam, better known by the pseudonym Pudhumaipithan, was one of the most influential and revolutionary writers of Tamil fiction.

Pudhumaipithan's works were characterized by social satire, progressive thinking and outspoken criticism of accepted conventions.

Pudhumaipithan's influence has been accepted and appreciated by the present day writers and critics of Tamil fiction.

Pudhumaipithan completed his Bachelor of Arts degree from Tirunelveli Hindu college in 1931.

Pudhumaipithan worked briefly as a sub editor at Oozhiyan and later at Dina Mani.

Pudhumaipithan slowly ventured into the world of Tamil cinema and worked as a scriptwriter in the films Avvaiyaar and KaamaValli.

Pudhumaipithan's works were influenced by the French short story writer Guy de Maupassant among others.

Pudhumaipithan felt that Tamil literature had been crippled by unspoken conventions and openly criticized those who adhered to them.

Pudhumaipithan was unfazed by the hostile reception that his works received from contemporary writers and critics alike.

Pudhumaipithan belonged to the Manikodi movement which flourished in 1930s.

Pudhumaipithan was a prolific translator of literary works from other languages into Tamil.

Pudhumaipithan equated adaptations to literary theft and held the view that translation was the proper way to bring literary works of other languages to Tamil.

Pudhumaipithan's first published poem was Thiru Angila arasanga thondaradipodi azhwar vaibhavam, which appeared in 1934.

Pudhumaipithan was the first Tamil writer to successfully use a dialect of Tamil other than that of Chennai or Tanjore.

Pudhumaipithan's stories were set either in Madras or in Tirunelveli, the two places where he spent considerable portions of his life.

Pudhumaipithan's writing style had a mixture of colloquial and classical words.

Pudhumaipithan used harsh language while arguing with his literary opponents like Kalki Krishnamoorthy and wrote insulting limericks in his book reviews.

Pudhumaipithan's defenders have argued that those were adaptations and not plagiarizations.

All of Pudhumaipithan's adaptations were written before 1937, when he became involved in a literary feud with Kalki Krishnamurthy about adapting works from other languages.

Pudhumaipithan has been criticized for just raising uncomfortable issues and not proposing any solutions for them.

Pudhumaipithan had responded by pointing out that his job was only raising the issue and leaving the reader to figure out the solution.

Pudhumaipithan wrote under different pseudonyms, but the name "Pudhumaipithan" was the one that became famous.

Pudhumaipithan himself preferred the name as he felt that this name was partially responsible for the appeal of his stories.