|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Lost Unicorn
Sen’s novel is pure fantasy. Indeed, some of literature’s most enduring and best-loved children’s books fit into this category. Although it really has no echoes of the world that Rowling has successfully created, the question does spring to the reader’s mind as to whether Sen has been inspired to climb on the fantasy novel bandwagon by the mistress of the fantasy novel. When asked, Sen said: "I like fantasy. No, I am not inspired by Rowling but older writings like our own epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The Iliad, The Odyssey, Beowulf, The Chronicles of Narnia series...it all is a sort of fascination and experimentation..." In fact, fantasy is one of the most popular genres in children’s books, and many kids continue to read fantasy into their teens and adulthood. Quite a few picture books are pure fantasy, such as William Steig’s Shrek, but it is in the older categories, when new worlds are created through words alone that this genre really comes into its own. Ursula le Guin’s Earthsea Quartet is a well-known example of this. Nothing references back to the real world, everything is imagined, from politics to social structures to the geography, clothing, food and language. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is another example of this style of fantasy. Sen’s world however, is not for children only. "No. It is definitely for everyone. All ages and all groups!" she says. The Lost Unicorn opened up for the author, many opportunities for reflecting on imagination, truthfulness and the values of her world. The characters in The Lost Unicorn have a dual personality: human as well as animal`85 unicorns, golden snakes, magical deer, Ashanti, the dinosaur princess. The family tree is a bit esoteric as they all get created through marriages with humans. The mother, who is the fountainhead of the creation, is Thaimia who has many offspring. And not just regular offspring, mind you. Some of them are human, some unicorn. The youngest son is Shardun, the most evil, unadulteratedly satanic and he is essentially human. To begin with, there is the marriage of the humans and the Deer Folk. This is how unicorns are created. However, the tale of the battle between good and evil, which is the surmise of most of the successful fantasy books, begins when the Human Lord Rarisarus is betrayed by his ambitious brother Goloth who wants to rule the powerful kingdom. Shardun, the youngest of Rarisarus’ sons, who is actually under the tutelage and charge of Goloth, realises that his father has been murdered by his caretaker. And here begins the tale of vengeance and unbridled evil where all brotherhood is forgotten and only ambition and power reign supreme! Shardun creates the most horrifying institution in his kingdom. He is the consuming flame into which the old and the disabled are fed. So there is no illness or old age in his kingdom. On the face of it, his kingdom is a well-ordered one, with everyone following a routine and pattern of life that has no scope of disruption or disturbance. What lies beneath, however, is an army that is the tool of his destruction, his evil powers over spirits and a general, a malevolent lion, who can kill the living and who, because he is a ghost, is invincible. However, to support the army of the good is Greatheart, a deformed puppy who grows up to become a faithful companion to Roaro and his brother, Nuran. Another faithful companions that the two warriors of the good have, are Kale and Kaloni, the horses, faithful to mankind. In the end of course, as in all fantasy novels, it is the epic battle between the good and the evil, in which, battle weary and hurt, good ultimately prevails. There is strong core of morality that pervades the book. Sen says that her endeavour is to communicate that "we must look after our forests, our seas, our animals, ourselves. The Age of Technology does not necessarily mean that we have to destroy everything simple that matters...we realise we are a part of nature. That we do not commit suicide by destroying it.... Peaceful co-existence is not a shame; when we stand to gain everything, we lose everything to gain...."
|
AN
extravagantly fanciful tale, The Lost Unicorn demands the
suspension of reality as it takes the reader to an unexplored world that
might have been. Sen says she did not consciously "think out the
novel". "It sort of just ‘growed’ and came pouring out on
the computer!" In fact, this is not her first experiment with the
genre. She wrote Kurukshetra (based on the Mahabharata)
and Kaikeyi (about Dasaratha’s second queen in the Ramayana) in
1991 and 1992, respectively.