Closing Time

Alagu Subramaniam was a barrister-at-law and writer of short stories, radio scripts, and plays. This book contains stories based mainly on contemporary (1930’s) English life from the perspective of an outsider to English society. It is possibly the only Ceylonese work with a direct social critique, capturing the life of colonials in England during WWII. His first book, The Big Girl & Other Stories, contains stories of colonial Ceylon from the perspective of an intimate outsider.

 

This publication, which is a follow upfollow-up to The Big Girl (reprinted in 2018), contains personal letters and documents, giving insight into the author. These publications are a tribute by his grandniece to bring his stories back into circulation and to rekindle his memory.

Alagu Subramaniam was a barrister-at-law and writer of short stories, radio scripts, and plays. He was a prominent figure in London’s Bloomsbury group and a political agitator for Independence. His stories have been translated into Tamil, Kannada, Russian, and German, and a Sinhala translation is under publication.

 

His story The Mathematician, for its humourous raillery, was ranked with Anton Chekhov and included in a German volume titled Briefly Told: The Finest Stories in World Literature. His story Professional Mourners made it into the Sri Lankan Advanced Level curriculum. Some of his stories were read on the home and overseas services of the BBC. 

 

Further reading on the author

• Publisher: Ohm Books Publishing
• Published: 4th July 2021
• Language: English
• Paperback: 142 pages
• ISBN:‎ 9798531049599
• Dimensions: 6 x 0.32 x 9 inches
• Weight: 9.6 ounces