INTO THE SLAYER SLAIN

In my last blog i gave you a picture of the novelist and from today we are getting into the novel,"THE SLAYER SLAIN".

This short novel has the distinction of being the first of its kind in missionary literature.It has all the characteristics of typical novel in that it has a well defined plot and characters  that grow in stature as the story progresses.The story line is one that fulfills the purpose for which it is crafted viz for the instruction of young . It adopts the style of the omniscient narrator who stands apart and watches the events unfolding.Set in the picturesque background of Kottayam and Meenachil river the chief characters are the Syrian Christians who consider themselves as belonging to the upper caste and their servants who belong to the lower caste and are considered untouchables.

The events that are described in the novel are imaginative renderings of real incidents that have taken place in central Travancore and which are described at length by the missionaries in their annual reports to the parent society .All these characteristics support the claim that The Slayer Slain is a typical novel .In fact it may even be considered that this novel is the first novel in English written and published in India by a colonial master about the colonized .Again it is indeed the first novel written by a women missionary even though she has to share this position with her husband but for whom this novel would not have been completed let alone published .As a matter of fact it was Rev.Collins who translated the novel into Malayalam and published it with title " Khadhaka Vadhom"  .One hundred and fifty years have been elapsed since the publication of "Khadhaka Vadhom".

These are some features seen in this book that i would like to share with you from my next blog we will be entering deep into the novel so after reading this blog you feel like you have read the whole novel .

"READING A BOOK MAKES US A GREAT HUMAN BEING IN THIS BEAUTIFUL WORLD"