Chelva Kanaganayakam Explained

Honorific Prefix:	Professor
Chelva Kanaganayakam
Honorific Suffix:	FRSC
Native Name:	செல்வா கனகநாயகம்
Birth Name:	C. Kanaganayakam
Birth Date:	7 May 1952
Birth Place:	Colombo, Ceylon
Death Place:	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Occupation:	Academic

Professor Chelvanayakam Kanaganayakam (Tamil: செல்வநாயகம் கனகநாயகம்; May 7, 1952  - November 22, 2014) was a Tamil Canadian translator, author and academic.

Early life and family

Kanaganayakam was born on May 7, 1952, in Colombo, Ceylon.^{[1] [2]} He was the son of V. Chelvanayakam, head of the Department of Tamil at the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, and Kamalambikai.^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} He was educated at Trinity College, Kandy.^[5] After school Kanaganayakam joined the University of Sri Lanka Peradeniya campus but following Osmund Jayaratne's "re-organisation" of universities, he and other language and literature students were moved to the university's campus in Kelaniya.^{[1] [6]} He graduated in 1976 with a B.A. degree in English language and literature.^{[1] [2] [3] [7]}

Kanaganayakam was married to Thirumagal.^{[1] [2] [4]} They had a daughter (Shankary) and a son (Jegan).^{[1] [2] [4]}

Career

Kanaganayakam was a lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Jaffna before joining the University of British Columbia on a Commonwealth scholarship, receiving a Ph.D. degree in 1985 after producing a thesis, supervised by W. H. New, on the writings of Zulfikar Ghose.^{[1] [2] [3] [7]} Kanaganayakam joined the University of Toronto's Department of English in 1989 to research and teach Commonwealth literature.^{[1] [2] [7]} Appointed a professor in 2002, he went on to become director of the Centre for South Asian Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs and co-ordinator of the independent studies program at Trinity College, Toronto.^{[1] [2] [3] [7]}

Kanaganayakam was a founding member of the Tamil Literary Garden and the Toronto Tamil Studies Conference.^{[1] [2] [3]} On the morning of November 22, 2014, Kanaganayakam was inducted to the Royal Society of Canada as a fellow in Quebec City.^{[1] [2] [3] [7]} That evening, as he went to a celebratory dinner in Montreal, he suffered a heart attack and died.^{[1] [2] [3] [7]}

Works

Kanaganayakam wrote, translated and edited several books:^[3]

• Structures of Negation: The Writings of Zulfikar Ghose (1993, University of Toronto Press)^{[6] [7]}
• Configuartions of Exile: South Asian Writers and Their World (1995, TSAR Publications)^{[7] [8]}
• Dark Antonyms and Paradise: The Poetry of Rienzi Crusz (1997, TSAR Publications)^{[6] [7]}
• Lutesong and Lament: Tamil Writing from Sri Lanka (2001, TSAR Publications, editor)^{[1] [8]}
• Counterrealism and Indo-Anglian Fiction (2002, Wilfrid Laurier University Press)^{[1] [7]}
• Moveable Margins: The Shifting Spaces of Canadian Literature (2005, TSAR Publications, editor)
• History and Imagination: Tamil Culture in the Global Context (2007, co-editors R. Cheran & Darshan Ambalavanar)^{[1] [9]}
• New Demarcations: Essays in Tamil Studies (2009, Brown Bear Press, co-editors R. Cheran & Darshan Ambalavanar)^[9]
• Wilting Laughter: Three Tamil Poets (2009, translator)^{[8] [10]}
• Nedunalvaadai (2010)
• You Cannot Turn Away (2010, translator)^[11]
• Ritual (2011, translator)^[10]
• World Without Walls: Being Human, Being Tamil (2011, co-editor)^[9]
• In Our Translated World: Contemporary Global Tamil Poetry (2013, TSAR Publications, editor)^{[1] [7]}
• A History of South Asian Writing in English (2014, Cambridge University Press)^[7]
• Uprooting the Pumpkin: Selections from Sri Lankan Tamil Literature, 1950-2012 (2016, Oxford University Press, editor)^[1]

Notes and References

1. News: McKean. Matthew. Chelva Kanaganayakam: A 'shining beacon' for Tamil literature. The Globe and Mail. December 26, 2014.
2. News: Bhandari. Aparita. U of T prof was admired for compassion, academic contributions. Toronto Star. November 28, 2014.
3. News: Professor Chelva Kanaganayakam passes away. TamilNet. November 23, 2014.
4. Web site: In Memoriam: Professor Chelvanayakam Kanaganayakam (1952 - 2014).
5. Web site: In Memoriam: Professor Chelvanayakam Kanaganayakam (1952 - 2014). 36.
6. News: Halpé. Ashley. A memorial tribute to Chelva Kanaganayakam. The Island (Sri Lanka). January 21, 2015.
7. Web site: In Memoriam: Professor Chelva Kanaganayakam. University of Toronto.
8. Web site: In Memoriam: Professor Chelvanayakam Kanaganayakam (1952 - 2014). 16.
9. Web site: In Memoriam: Professor Chelvanayakam Kanaganayakam (1952 - 2014). 17.
10. Web site: In Memoriam: Professor Chelvanayakam Kanaganayakam (1952 - 2014). 18.
11. Web site: In Memoriam: Professor Chelvanayakam Kanaganayakam (1952 - 2014). 19.