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by Carl Muller
Meary James Tambimuttu left Ceylon for the UK in 193 8. His was the poetry -
of the surreal, and he moved into Fitzrovia, home of the Bloomsbury Group,
where he lived for 13 years. In a special tribute to this talented man, N.
Sivasambu of the Group, told of how Tambimuttu revelled in that area. Fitzrovia
was just inside the space west of Tottenham Court Road, London. The area
was named after Sir Charles Fitzroy, Baron Southampton, who owned the land.
It is today an artist’s enclave, attracting poets, writers, dramatists and painters
just as the artist’s quarters of Paris does. Yet, Fitzrovia has grown its own
unofficial ward though not as yet recognised as a borough, parish or ward.
Tambimuttu was the first intellectual from the Ceylon of his times to move into
Fitzrovia-and he was concerned for its continuity as an enclave of the arts. He
once warned Julian McLaren Ross, a fellow writer who was the acknowledged
king of Fitzrovia, that the area with its pubs and cafe society, could prevent an
artist from truly fulfilling himself-but as we know of many such art enclaves, it
was cafe society and the pubs that delighted poets and young writers.
Tambimuttu held surrealist principles and startled the Fitzrovian literary circles
with his Bohemian lifestyle. Between 1939 and 1951, he edited "Poetry
London" together with Keydrich Ross and Anthony Dickins. He had a flawless
eye for artistic talent, and the journal became a leader in its field- so much so
that T. S. Eliot once said: "It is only in "Poetry London" that I can consistently
expect to find new poets who matter."
Fitzrovia lies west of Bloomsbury. Tambimuttu actually outlined the boundaries
of his beloved enclave-an area extending beyond Charles Fitzroy's land to
include the space enclosed by Euston Road, Cleaveland Street, and New
Oxford Street, then stretching it across to Soho. Clearly, the unofficial borough
ward -was growing and brought in more arts interaction.
As an editor, Tambimuttu helped to swell the reputations of artists of the 20th
century, among them Dylan Thomas, Gerald Durrel and sculptor Henry Moore.
He also founded - Edfions Poetry London publishing many leading names in
the world of letters. He then set up the Lyrebird Press, and his reputation grew,
not only as a publisher of new writing but also as a book publisher. His
publication of "Indian Love Poems" won for him the Publishers Award and he
presented a specially bound edition to the Queen.
There was no gainsaying his love and commitment to Fitzrovia. In an article that
was published in "Harpers and Queen" he wrote of this part of London and told
of his fellow artists and friends. To him, they were all Fitzrovians, not
Londoners. He was also the first Lankan to be given a place in the "Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography" where his work as an influential editor of
poetry and a publisher of the avant garde thinkers of his time was noted.
N. Sivasambu detailed Tambitnuttu’s story in "Fitzrovid News" of December
2004-a tabloid that tells all England about what Fitzrovia stands for. This area
is now so important aesthetically, that University College London is running an
oral history project, calling for stories of the area's long-term residents.
A few months before his death, Tambimuttu founded the Indian Arts Council,
aiming for the promotion of greater understanding between- Indian artists and
the West. He died from a heart attack in 1983 and, at a memorial gathering in
1984, the poet Kathleen Raine said and then wrote in an obituary: "The torch
Tambimuttu has lit should not be allowed to go out."
Today, the Bloomsbury Group, also much a part of Fitzrovia, has taken up this
torch. There are plans for a monument to be erected - a tribute to Meary
James Tambimuttu for his great contribution to the area’s artistic history.
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