Shabdangal ("Voices") is a 1947 novel by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer which talks about war, orphanhood, hunger, disease and prostitution.
The insanity of the world infects him; the meaninglessness of his life and the pain of disease compel him to commit suicide.
Overcome by a desire to confess, he walks into the house of a writer he respects and retells to him the story of his life.
Balyakalasakhi (partly), Paththummayude Aadu, Mathilukal, and Anuraagathinte dinangal (entirely) consist of autobiographical material, but nowhere in Shabdangal can we find a close correspondence to the author's life.
Ntuppuppakkoranendarnnu attacks age-old customs and superstitions, Shabdangal raises voice against the pretences of modernity; the cloak of 'respectable' moral living on the surface that disguises a degraded social setup.
The literary technique of 'confession' is best suited to the story, because a first person narrative, without simultaneous comments and questions put forth by a thoughtful listener, would have been ineffective in this case.
Interspersed in conversation are bits of descriptions of Nature's beauty; and questions as to the origin and evolution of the universe.
These are dragged in deliberately; to enhance the effect of 'insanity' which pervades the atmosphere of the story; to contrast the beauty of Nature with the ugliness in various aspects of human life on earth; to demonstrate that physical questions like eradication of poverty and curing of disease are more important than metaphysical questions about the cosmos.
Balakrishna Pillai, however, sees in Basheer's work a defeatism born out of ignorance of scientific advancements.
Before it, indirect references to homosexuality occurred in Ponkunnam Varki's Nivedanam and Changampuzha Krishna Pillai's unpublished poem Ashramamrigam.
Balakrishna Pillai predicted at the time of Shabdangal going to press that it would raise a storm in critical circles.
The meaninglessness of war, the horror witnessed on the fields of battle, the beastliness of domestic squabbles in the name of religion and caste, the degradation hidden beneath the cloak of 'respectability', the dignity in the lives of people condemned as engaged in 'unrespectable' professions, questions on fidelity and prostitution, the irrationality of 'belonging' to a religion one happens to be born into—all find space in this work of art.