By IANS
Thrissur (Kerala) : Professor, writer, orator and former editor of Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI-M) controlled cultural weekly ‘Deshabhimani’, M.N. Vijayan died of heart failure Wednesday as he was about to address a press conference here.
Vijayan, 77, was the president of leftist Purogama Kala Sahitya Sanghamm (Progressive Association for Art And Letters) and Adhinivesha Prathirodhe Samithi (Anti-Hegemony Forum), a leftist think thank based in Kerala.
Vijayan had rubbed the CPI-M top brass the wrong way with his candid views and comments. He opposed the policy of some state level leaders like current state Finance Minister Thomas Isaac and other leftist intellectuals to accept foreign funding, saying that they had imperialistic interests.
Most of Vijayan’s publications are compilations of his speeches. A powerful orator, he used Marxism and psychology in his speeches to analyse life and literature.
Vijayan was one of the first to use psychology for literary criticism in Malayalam in his critical analyses of the poetry of Vailoppilli.
Vijayan’s funeral will be held in Kodungalur Thursday. He is survived by his wife and three children.