BHOPAL: With the allusions of Charles Dickens and Herman Melville, the yarns of Amitav Ghosh who has won the 54th Jnanpith Award contain suspense and satire, perverse cruelty, and profound kindness. Besides, they relate the countless ways humans conceal desires and fears behind arrogance and brutality.
The first English author to get this prestigious award, Ghosh draws lines on the shadows of his reallife characters. Common readers may sometimes find his stories difficult to understand, but his narratives are as addictive as opium and put them in stupor till they soak up the last ward. His stories are historically convincing and depict the jungle and foliage of India with the precision of a surgeon’s knife.
His depiction of sufferings of women in Sea of Poppies holds a reader completely in thrall. This is how the students and teachers of English literature in the city have described the writings of Ghosh after he has been honoured with that coveted award. Last but not the least the Jnanpith Committee has done justice by giving that award to a great author, they said. Prashakha Mathur, who is pursuing M Phil in Indian writing in English literature, told Free Press, “Ghosh has tried to depict sufferings women from all sections of Indian society during the nineteenth century.
He has dealt with social problems like Sati and rape by the brother of the bridegroom in the name to conceal the impotency of the bridegroom.” She said, “The misery and isolation of widowhood with reference to women of a Brahman family in Calcutta, who are sent to Brindavan. Ghosh, give us a ray of hope. So, if women get support from their male counterparts as in the case of Deeti who is supported by Kalua they can become independent and lead as Deeti does in the novel, Sea of Poppies.” “They are more than equal to men in the novel.
He depicts women’s search for identity and their right to live a life with freedom and dignity. In his novels, women are strong. They travel far and wide and take decisions on their own to live an independent life,” Mathur said. Head of English Department, MLB College, Prof. Seema Raizada said, “Besides being innovative, intellectual and experimentalist, Ghosh is sensitive to issues like many other writers, but he presents his feelings in a starkly different style that puts a lingering impact on the mind of his readers. Ghosh is concerned with a greater India, one that goes beyond geographical boundaries through themes of colonialism and culture identity, history, religion and science.
His experimentation with the form and structure has given a very contemporary touch to Indian English fiction.” She said, “His language fuels his narrative that has the tang of the vastness of his subjects and themes – moving from epics to folklore, from families to the magical world. “In Shadow Lines, Ila is a modern woman who is unreasonable, pampered and spoilt by overindulgence. Deeti in Sea of Poppies is the one who struggles throughout her life but still takes decision that keeps her away from a loveless society,” said Raizada who is president of Club Literati.
Assistant professor in the department of English in BSSS College, Saman Ashfaq said, “Ghosh’s oeuvre reflects the concerns of the postcolonial and the postmodernism world. His themes are centered on the sociopolitical vicissitudes of the present milieu, especially in the South Asian region. “He belongs to the tribe of writers who have consistently experimented with language, form and content to give a voice to multiplicity of meanings and experience
Fragmentations, both social and political, form the core of his writings,” Ashfaq added. Padmashri Ramesh Chandra Shah said, “No doubt, Ghosh is a major Indian novelist in English. Long back, I have read his two novels, but I cannot recapitulate their names. I have also read his wellwritten novel Sundervan.”
