TAMIL PURIST MOVEMENT 51 words. This is most prominent in what is called the avant-gardist writings that are published in little magazines. This trend started with the ^New Poets" who emerged around 1958-59 and spread to fiction writers too. Among the novelists Indira Parthasarathy, Jcyakanthan, N Parthasarathy, Sujatha, Ambai and a few others are noted for this. C S Chellappah, V Swaminathan, K N Subramaniam and N Jcgannathan intersperse English in their critical essays. Some of these writers have created characters that are bilingual and at times conversing in English. Naturally the readers'knowledge of that language is taken for granted. This phenomenon is not seen in the writings of the earlier generations (1930s and 19Ws) who too in their days claimed to be "experimental" writers. I do not mean the use of technical words, but simple sentences like "Don't be silly". Indira Parthasarathy's play Malai, 'Rain* is virtually in both Tamil and English. Some observers, have attributed this excessive use of English to the alienation of the writers, a reaction to linguistic prescription, a growing sense of internationalism' in literature and a process of intellectualization of Tamil literature. It is also true that such writers are mostly from the cities.On some aspects of the "New Poetry* see Smile of Murugan, pp 313-335. As to the problem of alienation of the writer and the impact of modernisation vide, Tamil Naval Ilakkiyam, pp 135-156. Also M Shanmugam Pillai, "Code-Switching in a Tamil Novel" in Structural Approaches to South India, Harry M Buck and Glenn E Yocum, Pennsylvania 1974, pp 81-95 wherein he analyzes the phenomenon of code—switching found in a novel by Jcyakanthan. Shanmugam Pillai thinks that because the novelist writes about middle-class people and some of the subjects dealt with in the novel are taboo, English helps to keep the distance and facilitates discussion. On the question of using regional dialects in fiction, Shanmugam Pillai, "Merger of literary and colloquial Tamil" Anthropological Linguistics, Bloomington, April 1965. The lavish use of English seems to be a feature in contemporary Hindi Literature too, especially in poetry. This became marked at the end of 1950s. I am indebted to Karine Schomcr (Berkeley^) for this information.