Veteran Marxist, Tamil writer dies at 93

Ganesalingan has written 71 novels

Se. Ganesalingan, a veteran Marxist and Sri Lankan Tamil writer-author, died in the early hours of Saturday at his daughter’s residence in Chennai. He was 93. He is survived by his son and two daughters. His son, G. Kumaran, and daughter Maanvili Chithamparanathan are into publishing.

Born on March 9, 1928, in Urumpirai of Jaffna district in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, Ganesalingan, after a modest academic career, joined the government service. Between 1950 and 1981, he served in Trincomalee and Colombo and retired from the Treasury.

He developed an interest in writing in his student days. His first story got published in 1950, and eight years later, a collection of his short stories was launched with a foreword by M. Varadarajan, known as ‘Mu Va’ and widely regarded as an authority in Tamil studies. Ganesalingan’s first novel, Neenda Payanam (Long Journey) was out in 1965 and its theme was caste oppression. It fetched him an award from the Sri Lanka Sahitya Mandalaya. He went on to write 71 novels, seven collections of short stories, 22 collections of essays and eight books on children’s literature, apart from a work of translation.