ALPHA

ALPHA T. D. RAMAKRISHNAN

What does it mean to be human? Twelve people accompany an anthropologist to a deserted island, cutting off all relations with the outside world. There, an experiment begins. They are not to use any known languages and must begin anew – to explore and find out if they can achieve in twenty-five years what humanity has achieved over generations. Twenty-five years later, only three of the original thirteen have survived. As these remaining survivors recount their tale, what emerges is a story of humanity returned to its primitive roots, bereft of attachment, and not nearly as utopian as they had expected. Translated from the Malayalam, this powerful novella by award-winning writer T. D. Ramakrishnan delves into the meaning of relationships, attachments, love, hate and anger. Above all, it seeks to answer the question: what makes us human?

T. D. RAMAKRISHNAN

T. D. Ramakrishnan is an Indian novelist and translator. He has written several bestselling Malayalam novels and is a recipient of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award and the Vayalar Award. Priya K. Nair teaches English in St. Teresa’s College, Ernakulam. She has also translated T. D. Ramakrishnan’s two other novels Francis Itty Cora and Sugandhi alias Andal Devanayaki.