A.N. Krishnarao

The Story

Krishnarao was a professor of Kannada who became the leading critic of his generation — a voice that stood at the meeting point of the classical tradition and the modern movement. He wrote with equal mastery on the ancient poets and the experimental writers of his own day.

His essays and his books — on the history of Kannada literature and on individual classics — became the textbooks of the universities, and his lectures drew crowds who came for his wit and his learning. He was among the first to champion the great modern novelists and poets of Kannada, giving the new writing a serious critical audience.

He also served Kannada culture beyond the classroom, working for the language's institutions and journals. He died in 1971, and his criticism is still studied as the model of the engaged, informed, and fearless critic — the reader who tells the writer the truth.