Volume-I, Issue-I, September, 2024
Volume-I, Issue-I, September, 2024 |
নারায়ণ গঙ্গোপাধ্যায়ের গল্প ভুবন: প্রতিবাদ ও নির্বাসিতের প্রতিবেদন অমিত দেব, গবেষক, বাংলা বিভাগ, আসাম বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়, শিলচর, ভারত |
Received: 07.09.2024 | Accepted: 29.09.2024 | Published Online: 30.09.2024 | Page No: 94-100 |
DOI: 10.69655/atmadeep.vol.1.issue.01W.013 | |||
ABSTRACT | ||
In the history of Bengali short
stories, Narayan Gangopadhyay is a well-known name today. He is a distinctive
artist of Bengali fiction. After the literary phase centered around magazines
like Kallol and Kalikalam, he was among the few emerging storytellers who
gradually enriched Bengali short stories. During and after World War II,
powerful writers like Subodh Ghosh, Santosh Kumar Ghosh, Nabendu Ghosh,
Narendra Nath Mitra, and Narayan Gangopadhyay wrote stories that reflected the
struggles of real life and the perceptions of truth, which became vividly
apparent through their narratives. Narayan Gangopadhyay is a key
figure in the transformation of Bengali stories. From war and famine to
independence, partition, communalism, and the refugee crisis, he claimed
innovation in the remarkable structure and extraordinary language of contemporary
storytelling. His works include nearly 14 collections of short stories. The
entire decade of the 1940s left deep scars on the map of Bengal and India. The
August Movement, the Quit India Movement, Japanese bombings, black markets,
control, famine, anti-fascist movements, student-worker strikes, communal
riots, fragmented independence, partition, and the refugee influx highlighted
the social and political context of that decade. Poets and writers experienced the
terrifying reality of famine first-hand. They felt the unavoidable presence of
death and destruction. In the context of war, the shattered lives depicted
lacked the romanticism of Sharatchandra, the bohemianism of Kallol, and the
nature fascination of Bibhutibhushan. It was in this changed backdrop that
Narendra Nath Mitra, Samresh Basu, Narayan Gangopadhyay, Ramapad Chowdhury, and
Bimal Kar emerged, among others. A confluence of thought occurred among all of
them. In Narayan Gangopadhyay's short stories, the reality of that time vividly
emerges. In our discussion, we will attempt to highlight various socio-economic
themes from the 1940s that appear in his stories. |