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Alagu Subramaniam ….The Unfolding of a Ceylonese Author-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Premila Thurairatnam,  an essay that will appear in THE CEYLANKAN of May 2022 ….. with highlghting imposed by the Editor, Thuppahi Further to my article in the November 2020 issue of The CEYLANKAN  entitled The Extraordinary Alagu Subramaniam, I present the findings from my research into how this short story writer formulated some of his stories almost a century ago.  He was commended in the Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English as an exemplar of professionalism in the short story and that he wrote fiction of merit1. So, I think my effort on his work is worthwhile. Alagu in 1947 aged 37 when he returned to Ceylon from England Let’s begin with what is considered his finest short story ‘Professional Mourners’ where he points out the inhumanity of the caste system2. The narrator is a child remembering the details of his Hindu grandmother’s funeral and the importance attached to the ...