BOOK REVIEW:”FAREWELL SONG”
(Modern Classics)
By Rabindranath Tagore
Farewell Song is a masterpiece written by a
Nobel laureate which is considered to be a landmark of literature. There were
two main characters in the novel viz.
Amit and Labanya. The narrator
depicts the growth of relationship between them. In the course of the novel,
the narrator also tries to point out the two main conflicts i.e. ‘good’ and
‘bad’ writing and the influence of Western culture on Bengali society.
The
narrator was near seventy when the novel was published. A conflict arose
regarding the age of the narrator. Also it was pointed out in the novel by the
narrator that the importance of the age of the writer was immense. At that time
there were two groups, one was with Tagore and the other one was anti-Tagore.
The Anti-Tagore movement comprised young litterateurs. The narrator also
depicts this idea in the novel as the protagonist follows one group and the
other central character follows a different one. With the wizardry of his
words, the narrator placed Labanya on the writer’s side and the protagonist on
Nibaran Chakrabarti’s (youth) side. In the course of the novel, the narrator
was able to convince his detractors by the dual representation of poetic
section that his skills as a poet are really unquestionable. It was the
triumphant answer of the writer to his critics that the man of his calibre is
independent of age and still had much more to serve for the community.
The
mastery of the novelist could be seen from the beginning of the novel as the
description of difference between style and fashion. The narrator also uses the
section of poetry in the novel. The mixture of prose and poetry was criticized
by many but actually if one goes through the novel, and then there is an acute
realization of the power of poetry. The
narrator here describes the depth of poetry and its use to depict romance in
the idyllic backdrop of Shilling. The sections of literary conflicts and
introduction of various groups perception was intentionally added by the
writer. It was possible for the narrator to set the plot without these things
but to put forward his opinion it became necessary for the narrator to depict
these ideas. So, it will be quite clear for the reader to make a judgement and
form an appropriate retort for the detractors.
The
narrator tries to represent two forms of love in the novel. One was the
involvement of Amit with Katy Mitter and the other one was with Labanya. The
first one was rooted in the earthly and social, the other was embedded deep in
the soul. The protagonist in the course of the novel encountered both the
worlds. At some point in the novel, there was productive interaction of both
these cultures. The narrator here depicts the idea of modernism in literature.
The very influence of western culture on the Bengali society was examined
deeply here. The opinion of Labanya on marriage is one such example of the
above.
With
the characters of Sissy and Lissy (Amit’s sisters), the narrator explains the
negative output of modernity in the society. When the two cultures interact,
the cultural chauvinism was represented by the social class. The narrator here
put forward the idea that change was important in the life of humans but only
upto such an extent that we would be able to recognize our own creativity.
Modernism was the need of the hour and writer also addresses that and depicts
in the novel but in a way that he would be able to make his mark also on the
reader. This concept enables him to make his point in a more subtle way but
does not influence him to change his ways.
REFERENCES:
1. Sanka Ghosh, Nirman
Ar Srishti(Santiniketan: Visva Bharati, 1982), 100-135
2. Buddhadeva
Basu, Rabindranath: Kathashitya(Kolkata: New Age, 1955),125-26.Translation by Radha Chakravarty
3. Supriya
Chaudhari,’A Sentimental Education: Love and Marriage in the Home and
World’,ed.,Datta,45-65.
4. Self reading
from “Farewell song”(Modern Classics) by Rabindranath Tagore translated by
Radha Chakravarty
No comments:
Post a Comment