|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Schooled by LIFE Eminent Tamil writer
D. Jayakanthan and Bengali novelist
The Jnanpith is indeed an achievement for someone who could not complete his school education. But then, Jayakanthan’s exposure to the world was through his visits to the office of the communist party (serving tea to the leaders there) and the legendary communist leader and Tamil scholar Jeevanandham. And this formative influence was felt in most of his writings. He was, at least when he began writing, passionate about the cause of the poor and sometimes about the idea of revolution.
His writings, even those which were inspired by his communist party leanings, did not belong to the same genre as that of Vaikom Mohammed Basheer or Premchand or Shivram Karanth. His works inspired the youth when the erstwhile Soviet Union was a model society for a whole lot of young men. That was when Jayakanthan seemed to show some traces of O.V.Vijayan in his writings. But then, Jayakanthan was certainly far from the existentialist thought and like it happened with the Soviet Union and socialism of that brand, he too travelled far away from the communist movement. He did shock many admirers when in 1967 he joined the Congress to express himself against the DMK. The Congress and Kamaraj lost the elections in Tamil Nadu then. Jayakanthan was uncomfortable with the anti-Hindi movement and hence opposed the DMK. Apart from insisting that he should be identified as a communist, Jayakanthan has been categorical about his opposition to any campaign that is divisive in nature. And the anti-Hindi agitation during the 1960s was one such movement, he stresses. Literature, in his view, must strive to bind society together; not promote divisions. Jayakanthan has inspired his readers yet he could not set a tradition like many other writers. Nor did he set out, like some other writers of his own time, on the existentialist course. And in this sense, his radicalism was restricted to just the stated position of the communist parties in Tamil Nadu. As it happened with the communist parties in Tamil Nadu – their inability to integrate a culture into their political project – Jayakanthan’s works too began to appear less powerful. And in due course, he too moved far away from his moorings. Rather than blame Jayakanthan, it is possible to blame the practitioners of radical politics in Tamil Nadu for having failed to evolve a position on culture. In other words, for having failed to evolve a critique of the dominant culture. Meanwhile, Jayakanthan was uncomfortable with the assertion of the Tamil identity and culture in the neighbouring Sri Lanka; and hence found himself out of sync with his own past (his communist association) and the present context (the reification of the Tamil identity). He wants to be called a communist when he has travelled too far away from the ideal and the party. — V.K.A.
Celebrated
Abohemian poet of the mid-1960s is today’s ‘classic’ novelist. He is Sunil Gangopadhyay, who has recently added a new feather to his cap after winning the prestigious Saraswati Samman for his two-volume novel Pratham Alo (First Light). Gangopadhyay is now the most popular and celebrated novelist of modern Bengali literature but he wishes to be remembered and known more as a poet than a novelist after his death. Published in 1996, Pratham Alo, like his mega novel Sei Somoy (Those Days), talks about the social and cultural milieu of the 19th-century Bengal. In between, he also wrote Purba Paschim (East and West), based on the liberation of Bangladesh vis-à-vis the social and cultural problems of the people of both countries in the post and pre-partition era. Purba Paschim is more of a historical document than a novel. The political and social scenario of the two Bengals during the last five decades have been dealt with great skill. But Sei Somoy and Pratham Alo are more a literary creation than a historical document. Sei Somoy brought the Akademi Award to Gangopadhyay in 1985. In 1983 he got the West Bengal Government’s Bankim Award and prior to that the Ananda Puruskar. Despite all these awards and recognitions for his novels, he would still like to be introduced as a poet and not as novelist. Gangopadhyay admits that his foray into writing novels was not planned. He began his literary career by writing poetry, which was published in Bengali literary magazines and journals. Side by side he also kept himself busy editing his monthly magazine, Kirtibas, with the participations of some of his close friends like Sakti Chattopadhyya, Sarat Mukhopadhyya and Belal Chowdhury (a Bangladeshi poet). He recalls, "At that time, one day, l got a call from the then editor, Sagarmoy Ghosh of Desh weekly (the then most popular and prestigious Bengali magazine). He requested me to write a novel for the Desh puja number. It was really a big surprise for me because I had never thought of writing a novel and I didn’t know anything about the nuances of writing of a novel. But still Sagarda (Sagarmoy) asked me to go ahead. And surprisingly enough, you won’t believe, soon in one day I found that I had completed writing a full novel." Thus came Gangopadhyay’s first novel Athmo Prakash (Self-Revelation), which was published in the 1967 Desh puja issue and was well received by readers as well as critics. Today Gangopadhyay has authored as many as 200 novels and become the most popular modern Bengali novelist after Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyya, Tarasankar Bandopdhyya and Bibhuti Bhusan Bandopadhyay. Some of Gangopadhyay’s novels have sold as many as 50,000 copies. Several of his novels have been translated into English, French, German and Russian and gained enormous popularity abroad. Gangopadhyay’s novels were also screened and serialised both in Bengal and Mumbai. Satyajit Ray made two films on his stories which received international awards and recognition. All his novels have dealt with the lives and problems of the middle-class society in Bengal during the 19th and 20th centuries. Born on September 7, 1934, in Faridpur, Bangladesh, to a Bengali family of east Pakistan, Gangopadhyay’s life was a struggle till his college days. For a long period he had to earn his bread either by taking tuitions or writing in several newspapers under pen names like Nil Lohit, Sanatan Pathak and Nil Upadhyya. "Those days, I wrote poems, essays, satires, shorts stories and travelogues but never attempted novels," says Gangopadhyay, who now lives in his Mandevilla gardens flat near Ballygunge and loves to frequent pubs of Kolkata. To complete his next two novels for the puja numbers of Ananda Bazar and Anandamela, he intends going to his farmhouse at Santiniketan with his wife Swati. Once a part-time
journalist with Ananda Bazaar, Gangopadhyay retired from there as
senior editor of Desh Patrika. Gangopadhyay has now engaged
himself in several literary movements and cultural activities. He was
recently made the Sheriff of Kolkata. — S.G. |
After
40 novels, 200 short stories and 15 collections of essays comes the
Jnanpith for D. Jayakanthan at the age of 71.
Jayakanthan is now not
only keen to retain his communist vision but also wants to be identified
with the Subramania Bharati era in Tamil history.
