G. A. Kulkarni

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Gurunath Abaji Kulkarni (July 10, 1923 in Karnataka – December 11, 1987, in Pune), popularly known as G. A. Kulkarni (Marathi: जी. ए. कुलकर्णी) or simply GA (जीए), was a Marathi short story writer and a Sahitya Akademi Award recipient.

A professor of English in JSS College, Dharwad for roughly 40 years, he lived in Kademani Compound in Malmaddi, a part of Dharwad (Karnataka) with an unmarried cousin-sister. GA himself was bachelor all through his life. He moved to Dharwad in 1950s for the teaching job from Belgaum. He did his schooling and higher studies up to M.A. from Belgaum. He left Dharwad in 1985/86 for health reasons, and spent his last years near his other married cousin-sister, Nanda Paithankar, in Pune, the city he hated all his life. A major road (G.A. Kulkarni Road) in the Kothrud suburb of Pune was named after GA posthumously.

GA's earlier stories were realistic in their mode and depicted the tragic and cruel side of human predicament in an unsentimental manner. His language was evocative and even sublime. His later works are almost Kafkaesque minus Kafka's farcical sense of black humor. The later works are sublime, allegorical and reminiscent of Borges. Almost all his work is informed by a tragic vision of human destiny as unredeemable and ruthless.

Many of GA's short stories have been translated into English, Hindi, and Kannada. He was honored with the Sahitya Akademi Award[1] in 1973 for the collection of short stories - 'Kajalmaya'. A critically acclaimed Marathi movie 'Kairee' [2], directed by Amol Palekar, was based on one of GA's short stories.

GA was a prolific correspondent. Four volumes of his letters were published after his death; they make up one of the best collections of letters in world literature. A big part of these letters were written to Shri Pu Bhagwat, Sunitabai Deshpande, Madhav Achawal, Jaywant Dalvi, Anantrao Kulkarni and Ma Da Hatkanangalekar. He had an obsession for keeping his life private which made him tie himself into many a knot. But he also longed to reach out to friends who shared his tastes. This longing resulted in a voluminous correspondence with friends which has become a treasure of Marathi language.

GA was an avid reader; the range in English literature that he managed to cover from his base in a small town like Dharwad is quite astonishing. GA translated five novels by American writer Conrad Richter into Marathi in 1960s for a project initiated by USIS in India to bring some fine American writing into Indian languages. As a writer, his stock-in-trade was 'Short Story'. Indeed he published little else while he lived. But after his death, his gift for other forms of writing also came to light. In addition to his monumental volumes of letters, a longish book named : 'Manase Arbhat Ani Chillar', based around nostalgic autobiographical ramblings, is also worth mention.

[edit] G.A. Kulkarni's Publications

  • Neelasavala (1959)
  • Hirave Rave (1960)
  • Parava (1960)
  • RaktaChandan (1966)
  • Kajalmaya (1972)
  • Pingalavel
  • Dohakalima (Collection of stories from GA's first four books)
  • Niyatidaan (Collection of Hindi translations of GA's selected short stories)
  • Sanjshakun (1975)
  • Ramalkhuna (1975)
  • Ek Arabi Kahani (1982) (Translated)
  • Amrutphale (1983) (Translated, Original - Apples of immortality by Leon Surmelian)
  • Onjaldhara (1984) (Translated)
  • Bakhar Bimmachi
  • Mugdhachi Rangit Goshta (1986)
  • Pailpakhare (1986) (Translated)
  • Akashphule (Translated)
  • Maanse Arbhaat Ani Chillar (1988)
  • Kusumgunja (1989)
  • Sonpawale
  • G.A. -nchi Nivadak Patre - Khand I,II, III, IV (1997,1999, 2007)
  • Sonyache Madake (Translated, Original - Crock of Gold by James Stephens)
  • Lord of the Flies (Translated, Original - Lord of the Flies, By William Golding)
  • Vairyachi Ek Ratra (1985) (Translated, Original - I Survived Hitler's Ovens by Olga Lengyel)
  • Raan, Shivar, Gaav, Ranatil Prakash, and Swaatantrya Aale Gharaa (Translated, Original - The Trees, The Fields, The Town, The Light in the Forest and The Free Man by Conrad Richter)
  • Diwas Tudawat Andharakade (Unpublished, Translated, Original - Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill)

[edit] External links

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