Gopal Baratham
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210276860
2008-05-05T08:03:43Z
Marcuslim
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/*Infobox*/
{{Infobox Medical Person
|name =Gopal Baratham
|box_width =
|image =replace_this_image_male.svg
|image_width =
|caption =
|birth_date =[[September 9]], [[1935]]
|birth_place =
|death_date ={{dda |2002|4|23|1935|9|9}}
|death_place = Singapore
|profession = Doctor
|specialism = Neurosurgeon
|research_field = [[Neurosurgery]]
|known_for = [[Author]]
|years_active =
|education = [[University of Malaya]]<br>[[Royal London Hospital]] Medical College
|work_institutions =Department of Neurosurgery, [[University of Edinburgh]]<br>[[Tan Tock Seng Hospital]]<br>Private practice
|prizes ='''1991''': [[Southeast Asia]] Write Award
|relations ='''Father:'''[[Baratham Ramaswamy Sreenivasan]]
}}
'''Gopal Baratham''' was a [[Singapore|Singaporean]] [[author]] and [[neurosurgeon]]. He was known for his frank style and his ability to write about topics that were often considered controversial in the rigid city-state.
== Career ==
Born to a physician and a nurse, Baratham decided to follow his parents and entered the medical profession. However, his youth is marked by the experience of the [[Japanese Occupation of Singapore|Japanese occupation]]. In 1954 he registered at the Medical College of the [[University of Malaya]], Singapore, and after studying at the [[Royal London Hospital]] in [[1965]], he entered the Department of Neurosurgery at the [[University of Edinburgh]] in [[1969]]. He finished his studies by [[1972]], when he was already 36 years old, to become a surgeon at the [[Thomson Road General Hospital]] in Singapore. He headed the Neurosurgery Department at the [[Tan Tock Seng Hospital]] between 1984 and 1987, and went into private practice after relinquishing his post as department head.
==Baratham, the writer==
Baratham began his passion for writing in the 1960s, and had never stopped doing so throughout his medical career. His first novel, ''Fuel in Vacant Lots'', was however never finished. In 1974 he was able to get his first short story, ''"Island"'', published in ''Commentary'', the publication of the [[National University of Singapore]] Society.
It was only in 1981, that his first book collection of short stories titled ''Figments of Experience'' was published.
In [[1991]], Dr. Baratham published his most successful novel, ''A Candle or the Sun'', which he had started working on in 1983. The novel was published in [[London]] and not in Singapore due to its controversial nature. The novel was loosely based on the case of the so-called Marxist plotters, a group of [[Catholic]] activists who the Singapore government had declared to be Communists and subsequently arrested. The same year he also published an erotic love-story called ''Sayang'' set in Singapore, [[Malaysia]], and [[Indonesia]]. He won the [[S.E.A. Write Award]] and was elected the president of the [[ASEAN]] Association of Neurosurgeons.
In [[1994]], Dr. Baratham wrote an account of the events surrounding the American [[Michael_P._Fay|Michael Fay]], called ''The Caning of Michael Fay''.
== Literary Works by Gopal Baratham==
===Short story collections===
* ''Figments of Experience'' (Times Books International, 1981)
* ''People Make You Cry'' (1988)
* ''Memories that Glow in the Dark'' (1995)
* ''The City of Forgetting'' (2001)
===Novels===
* ''A Candle or The Sun'' (Serpent's Tail, 1991)
* ''Sayang'' (Times Books International, 1991)
* ''Moonrise, Sunset'' (Serpent's Tail, 1996)
===Non-Fiction===
* ''The Caning of Michael Fay'' (KRP Publications, 1994)
=== Secondary Texts===
* ''Of memory and desire: The stories of Gopal Baratham'' by Kah Choon Ban (Times Books International, 2000)
==External links==
*[http://www.getforme.com/previous2002/previous250402_WriterGopalBarathamDiesOfPneumonia.htm An article on Gopal Baratham's death from pneumonia]
*[http://www.qlrs.com/essay.asp?id=252 Gopal Baratham: A Retrospective] by Teng Qian Xi
[[Category:1935 births|Baratham, Gopal]]
[[Category:2002 deaths|Baratham, Gopal]]
[[Category:Indian Singaporeans]]
[[Category:Neurosurgeons|Baratham, Gopal]]
[[Category:S.E.A. Write Award winners|Baratham, Gopal]]
[[Category:Singaporean writers|Baratham, Gopal]]
[[Category:Singaporean Hindus|Barathan, Gopal]]
[[Category:Alumni of the London Hospital Medical College|Barathan, Gopal]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh|Barathan, Gopal]]