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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}}
{{Infobox writer
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| name = M. K. Menon
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| native_name = എം. കെ. മേനോൻ
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| pseudonym = Vilasini
| birth_name = Moorkkanaat Krishnankutty Menon
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1928|6|23}}
| birth_place = [[Karumathra]], [[Vadakkancherry]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1993|5|13|1928|6|23}}
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| occupation = [[Novelist]], [[Teacher]] & [[Translator]]
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| alma_mater = [[St. Thomas College, Thrissur]]<br>[[University of Madras]]
| period = 1965 - 1993
| genre = [[Novel]]
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| notable_works = [[Avakasikal]]
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| awards = [[Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award]]<br>[[Sahitya Akademi Award|Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award]]<br>[[Vayalar Award]]<br>[[Odakkuzhal Award]]
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'''Moorkkanaat Krishnankutty Menon''' (23 June 1928 – 13 May 1993),<ref name=bologi>{{cite web | date=29 June 2007 | url=http://www.boloji.com/memoirs/043.htm | title=Arithmetic of Life | publisher=Boloji.com | access-date=31 July 2007}}</ref> better known by his [[nom de plume]] '''Vilasini''', was an [[Indian people|Indian]] writer from [[Kerala]] who wrote in [[Malayalam|Malayalam-language]]. He is the author of India's longest novel, ''[[Avakasikal]]'' (''The Inheritors)'', for which he won the [[Sahitya Akademi Award|Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award]] in 1981 and [[Vayalar Award]] in 1983.<ref name=awards>{{cite web | date=29 June 2007 | url=http://www.sahitya-akademi.org/sahitya-akademi/awa10311.htm#malayalam | title=Awards and Fellowships | publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]] | access-date=1 August 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.prd.kerala.gov.in/awards.htm |publisher=Information & Public Relations Department, Government of Kerala |title=Malayalam literary awards |access-date=28 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070524212356/http://www.prd.kerala.gov.in/awards.htm |archive-date=24 May 2007 }}</ref> His [[debut novel|first novel]] ''Niramulla Nizhalukal'' won the [[Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award]] in 1966.

==Biography==
M. K. Menon was born in Karumathra, near Vadakkancherry, [[British India]]. He got his degree in Mathematics in 1947 from St. Thomas College, [[Trichur]]. In 1953 he left for Singapore where he started his life as the editor of the English monthly called ''Indian Movie News''. Two years later, he became the sub-editor at the French News service [[Agence France-Presse]] (AFP)<ref name=bologi/> in Singapore. He was also a member of the [[Kerala Socialist Party]]. He came back to Kerala in 1977.

He made his debut as a novelist with the book ''Niramulla Nizhalukal'' (1965) that gives a vivid description of the lives of [[Malayali]]s in Singapore during the [[Second World War]]. He has a special liking for the stream of consciousness novel. As a novel that narrates the entire story through what passes in the minds of characters ''Oonjal'' is remarkable.<ref>{{cite news | date=15 April 2003 | url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/br/2003/04/15/stories/2003041500120302.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030629100146/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/br/2003/04/15/stories/2003041500120302.htm | url-status=usurped | archive-date=29 June 2003 | title=Malayalam novels | newspaper=[[The Hindu]] | access-date=28 June 2013}}</ref> Vilasini followed the examples of [[James Joyce]] and [[Virginia Woolf]] in his novels. His best known work is ''[[Avakasikal]]'' (''The Inheritors''). It runs into 3958 pages, in four volumes, and is the longest novel in an Indian language.

Vilasini also translated many novels into Malayalam, including ''[[Pedro Páramo]]'' by [[Juan Rulfo]] and ''[[The Blind Owl]]'' (''Boof-e koor'') by [[Sadegh Hedayat]].<ref>{{cite news | date=5 October 2004 | url=http://www.hindu.com/br/2004/10/05/stories/2004100500101602.htm | title=Metaphors of life and death | newspaper=[[The Hindu]] | access-date=28 June 2013}}</ref>

==Published works==

===Novels===
*''[[Avakasikal]]'' (''Inheritors'')
*''Oonjaal'' (''[[Swing (seat)|Swing]]'')
*''Thudakkam'' (''Beginning'')
*''Inaangaatta Kannikal''
*''Chundeli''
*''Yathramukham''
*''Niramulla Nizhalukal''

===Others===
* ''Kaithiri'' (Poems)
* ''Uthirmanikal'' (essays)
* ''Novalilekkoru Kilivaathil'' (essays)
* ''Prathyakshavalkaranam Novelil'' (essays)
* ''Swa-le'' (Journalism)
* ''Sahashayanam'' (Translation of [[Kawabata Yasunari]]'s Japanese Novel)
* ''Kurudan Moonga'' (Translation of the Persian novel ''[[The Blind Owl|Boof-e koor'' (''The Blind Owl'')]] by [[Sadegh Hedayat]])
* ''Pedroparamo'' (Translation of the Spanish novel ''[[Pedro Páramo]]'' by [[Juan Rulfo]])

==Achievements==
* [[Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award]] (1966) for ''Niramulla Nizhalukal''
* [[Sahitya Akademi Award|Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award]] (1981) for ''Avakaasikal''
* [[Vayalar Award]] (1983) for ''Avakaasikal''

==See also==
*[[List of longest novels]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Sahitya Akademi Award For Malayalam}}
{{Malayalam Literature |state=collapsed}}
{{Vayalar Awards}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menon, M. K.}}
[[Category:Malayali people]]
[[Category:Malayalam-language writers]]
[[Category:Journalists from Kerala]]
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:1993 deaths]]
[[Category:Malayalam novelists]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Malayalam]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing]]
[[Category:Place of death missing]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian novelists]]
[[Category:People from Thrissur district]]
[[Category:Novelists from Kerala]]

{{India-writer-stub}}
{{India-journalist-stub}}

M. K. Menon - Revision history

->GreenC bot at 18:28, 24 October 2021