C. J. Thomas

C. J. Thomas
Born (1918-11-14)November 14, 1918.[1]
Died (1960-07-14)July 14, 1960[1]
Pen name CJ
Nationality Indian
Citizenship Indian
Spouse Rosy Thomas

C. J. Thomas (1918-1960) was a Malayalam playwright and literary critic. He was considered as the playwright who ushered in the modernist phase of Malayalam Theater.[2]

Early life

He was born in 1918 November 14 to a Orthodox Christian priest Yohannan Mar Epishiopa and Annama.[1]

C J Thomas's father and mother wanted to make him a priest. As a first step to a priest in Orthodox Church, he was ordained a deacon. As education for deacons were free in CMS College Kottayam, he did his intermediate degree from CMS College Kottayam. Later he joined Union Christian College, Aluva for his degree in 1937. During his degree, he decided to leave the priesthood. After finishing his degree, he joined as a teacher in a primary school in Vadakara; he left the teaching job due to problems with school management.

Communist

He later joined Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram. During his time in law college he is influenced by communist ideas. After finishing from law college, he stated practicing as advocate under N. V. Chacko (a famous advocate at that time). He left his advocate job after two months and become a full-time member of Communist party.[1]

Due to his friendship with M. P. Paul , Ponkunnam Varkey, Karur CJ became a full-time writer in a magazine published form Kottayam.

Marriage

He joined M. P. Paul's Tutorial College as professor. There he met Rosy Paul, daughter of M. P. Paul and got married on January 8, 1951.

Ant-Communist, Death

During the 1950s Thomas became an anti-communist. He was appointed as Producer in All India Radio, Thiruvananthapuram on 1957. Even though the contract was for three years he left the position after one year. He is one of brains behind Liberation Struggle (Vimochana Samaram) which is anti-Communist sociopolitical agitation against the first elected Communist state-government in Kerala.

In later end of 1959, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. In July 14, 1960 he died during an operation in CMC Vellore.

Works

C. J. Thomas was heavily influenced by Bertolt Brecht and the concept of epic theatre. His plays dealt with fundamental moral and ethical problems .[3]

C. J. Thomas is noted for the modernist plays Avan vintum varunnu (Behold! He Comes Again) in 1940, and Aa manushyan ni tanne (You Are That Man) in 1954. Even though most of his drams had biblical themes, his plays did not bear any trace of conventional Christian dramas. CJ's works embrace diverse strands of socio-religious thought.[4]

Dramas

Essays/Criticism

Novels

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "C J Thomas". Kerala Sahitya Akademi. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  2. ↑ "http://bradley.bradley.edu/~tjp/mlmisce.html". bradley.bradley.edu. Retrieved 2015-06-15.
  3. ↑ Datta, Amaresh (1988). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature. Sahitya Akademi. ISBN 9788126011940.
  4. ↑ "Contributions of C. J. Thomas recalled". The Hindu. November 1, 2010. Retrieved 15 June 2015.

Further reading

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