Tradition and modernity must be viewed as dynamic forces, says eminent Kannada writer

Tradition and modernity should be viewed not as opposing forces but as dynamic forces that continually influence and reshape each other, eminent Kannada writer Nataraja Huliyaar said on Friday (August 28, 2026).

Delivering the keynote address at a two-day national seminar on “Dravidian Literature: Tradition, Modernity and Emerging Critical Perspectives”, organised at the Dravidian University, Mr. Huliyaar said tradition was not merely a legacy of the past but a living cultural process that acquired new meanings over time. “Modernity should be seen as an intellectual process that questions, engages with and reinterprets tradition,” he said.

Contemporary literary criticism has now expanded beyond language, style, and aesthetics to embrace history, sociology, philosophy, political theory, gender studies, linguistics, anthropology and media, Mr. Huliyaar said. “Understanding a literary work requires examining its social, historical, and cultural context,” he said.