First appeared in Eurasia Review, 3 August 2025

“Literature is a means of imagining alternative worlds and possibilities,” renowned literary critic Terry Eagleton once said, “and the study of literature helps us to develop empathy and understanding for others.” Few exemplified this vision more intensely and consistently than Professor M.K. Sanoo, a prominent Malayalam literary critic who passed away in Kochi on Saturday at the age of 98. In Kerala’s literary and public life, he was not just a critic, but a conscience. Through his words, teachings, and quiet strength, Sanu presented readers not just interpretations of texts, but a way of seeing the world, rooted in empathy, truth, and dignity.

A Life in Letters and Learning

M.K. Sanoo was born in 1928 in a Kerala that was still caught in the struggles of caste, class, and colonial domination. He grew up in a modest environment but was nourished by the values of social justice and reform, which would define his later work. He began his teaching career in 1955 and went on to serve in institutions such as Sree Narayana College and Maharaja’s College in Ernakulam, retiring as a professor in 1983. Known lovingly as “Sanoo Master,” his role as a teacher shaped generations of students, including several public figures.

But retirement did not slow him. Sanoo wrote, lectured, and reflected well into his nineties. He remained active in cultural spaces, serving as president of the Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham, director of the Sree Narayana Study Centre, and a guiding figure in Kerala’s literary organisations. He also briefly entered politics, winning a legislative seat in 1987 as a Left-backed independent, though he soon returned to his preferred world of books and ideas. His life was one of ceaseless engagement, with people, with texts, and with the ethical questions that connect the two.

The Critic with a Conscience

M.K. Sanoo began his journey in literary criticism with Kaatum Velichavum in 1960. It marked the arrival of a new kind of critic, one who could speak with intellectual depth but in a language that was warm, clear, and accessible. Over his career, he wrote more than 36 books, including Avadhaaranam, which won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award. He also authored Kavyathathwa Praveshika, Asanthiyil Ninnu Santhiyilekku, Artharuchi, and Rajaveedhi—each reflecting his belief that criticism should not alienate readers but bring them closer to literature and life.

Sanoo stood for criticism rooted in sincerity. He often said literature must be emotionally honest and reflect lived human experience. He rejected criticism that was decorative or overly abstract. For Sanoo, the role of the critic was to identify truth, to point to the sorrows and hopes buried in a text, and to ask: what does this say about the human condition?

In a 2020 lecture, he spoke of war as the central theme in many great epics. Yet he called war “the most demonic weapon invented by mankind,” which turns friends into enemies and love into hate. Literature, he insisted, must not glorify violence. Instead, it must help us understand the damage it causes—to lives, communities, and human relationships.

Sanoo was deeply influenced by Tolstoy and by thinkers like Sree Narayana Guru. His writing drew strength from both ethical inquiry and emotional timbre. It was never cold or distant. His essays were full of warmth, wit, and deep sympathy for those whose voices had long been silenced.

Sree Narayana Guru and the Spirit of Reform

If one thread runs through M.K. Sanoo’s literary and public life, it is his admiration for Sree Narayana Guru. Sanoo wrote multiple books on Guru, including Sree Narayana Guru (1976 and 1999), Sree Narayana Gurudevan (1983), and Sree Narayana Guru: Life and Times in English. His biography and reflections such as Sree Narayana Sandhesam present the Guru not only as a saint or philosopher, but as a radical thinker who transformed Kerala’s social order.

Sanoo’s reading of Guru was not confined to spiritual teachings. He saw Guru’s act of consecrating the Shiva idol at Aruvippuram in 1888 as a political act of courage. It defied caste restrictions and demanded equal spiritual rights. He understood Guru’s slogan, “One Caste, One Religion, One God for Man”, as more than a phrase. It was a revolutionary message calling for unity, equality, and compassion.

He was especially moved by Guru’s idea that spiritual realisation must go hand in hand with social reform. Through education, through the SNDP Yogam, through poetry, and through silence, Guru taught people to question inequality without hatred, and to seek justice without violence. For Sanoo, this was the foundation of both good politics and good literature.

He admired the way Guru honoured not only Hindu thought, but also the teachings of Christ and the Buddha. In his later writings, Sanoo frequently recalled Guru’s mirror-temple—where the devotee sees only their own reflection as the deity. This idea of self-reflection, Sanoo believed, was also the task of the writer and the critic.

Remembering Voices, Honouring Humanity

Sanoo’s love for literature was inseparable from his respect for the people who wrote it, and those who lived in it. His biographies of literary figures are not just records, but they are acts of empathy.

He wrote Ekantha Veedhiyil Avadhoothan, a luminous biography of Vaikom Mohammed Basheer, which won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award. Basheer’s choice to write in colloquial Malayalam, to speak of thieves and wanderers with affection and wit, echoed intensely with Sanu. He saw in Basheer’s works a commitment to social truth and moral clarity—writing that was free, fearless, and full of compassion.

In Changampuzha Krishnapilla: Nakshathrangalude Snehabhajanam, Sanoo paid tribute to another poet who captured the ache of love and loneliness. He portrayed Changampuzha not as a tragic figure but as a voice of emotional honesty, whose verses gave dignity to longing and loss.

Sanoo also wrote about Kumaran Asan, Mahatma Gandhi, and others. In each case, he sought not to judge, but to understand. His goal was to bring these figures closer to readers, to show their struggles, and to reveal the inner truths that shaped their work.

He believed literature was at its best when it spoke for the voiceless, when it gave shape to sadness, when it whispered hope. “Literature,” he once said, “unveils the frozen sadness buried deep inside minds.” That was his guiding philosophy, both as a critic and as a human being.

A Lasting Light

M.K. Sanoo’s contributions were recognised with many honours: the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award, the Padmaprabha Literary Award, and Kerala’s highest literary honour—the Ezhuthachan Puraskaram. But beyond awards, it was his quiet consistency, his humility, and his integrity that earned the love of his readers and students.

Even in his later years, Sanoo continued to engage deeply with public and cultural discourse, writing, speaking, and guiding, never withdrawing from the world he helped shape.

Sanoo believed that literature’s ultimate role was to deepen our sense of humanity. In every sentence he wrote, that purpose was alive.

As Kerala mourns the loss of a cherished literary figure, we remember M.K. Sanoo not only for his books or awards, but for the spirit he carried – a deep belief in truth, an unshakable respect for others, and a lifelong faith in the power of words to heal, awaken, and unite.