Keywords
Rural Society
Poverty
Exploitation
Power Relationship
How to Cite
Abstract
This essay attempts a critical review of select compositions of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay for a study of his picturization of contemporary society of rustic Bengal. Chattopadhyay was one of the foremost litterateurs of Bengal, the creator of such works as Devdas, Parineeta, Pather Dabi, Palli Samaj, Srikanta etc., who held his place among the reading public at a time when Rabindranath Tagore’s stature as a literary genius with a formidable command over all kinds of literary genres was unparalleled. This essay explores how Chattopadhyay portrays a vivid frame of socio-economic conditions of Bengal’s villages against backdrop of colonialism, dynamics of bucolic power politics, marginalization of the downtrodden by socially powerful castes and classes, centrality of land as site of contest and conflict, stranglehold of caste structure, socio-economic privation and impoverishment of the socially oppressed, their exploitation and their inherent courage to fight against all odds. It is attempted to explore how Chattopadhyay tells his tales of unending misery of the indigent village populace, the actualities of indebted existence, intricacies of family life, world of the women doubly marginalized, societal restrictions on women in patriarchal society, trials of young widows, apparently static nature of pastoral society. His sensitivity is reflected in the range of literary output he produced.
References
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