ABSTRACT
In this essay Gopal Chandra Praharaj reviews two books written by his senior contemporaries, Chha Mana Atha Gunth, a novel by Fakir Mohan Senapati (1843–1918) and Yugadharma, a play by Ramsankar Ray (1857–1931). Fakir Mohan laid the foundations of realistic prose fiction in Odia and pioneered the use of colloquial idiom in the literary domain. Ramsankar Ray emerged as the most distinguished playwright in the closing decades of the nineteenth century in Odisha. Both these authors were deeply concerned with social reform. The issues Gopal Chandra’s review focuses upon concern the moral world the characters of the two books inhabit and the diction appropriate for literary use. The moral worlds depicted in the two books problematize the nature of poetic justice to the discomfort of the reviewer. The advent of realism as a technique in Odia literature perhaps lies at the root of such discomfort. It may be mentioned here that Gopal Chandra is more critical of the way poetic justice operates in Chha Mana Atha Guntha than in Yugadharma. In Fakir Mohan’s novel, several innocent characters meet a terrible fate although evil-doers are also punished. The choice of diction constitutes another key aspect of realism as a technique and the reviewer dwells upon it at great length. He turns to the wider question of the kind of language used in modern Odia literature and singles out for censure the habit of using bookish, high-sounding and foreign words. He lauds the two authors for having employed home-spoken idiom in their books and hopes for this trend to grow more pronounced. He uses the review as a pretext for developing a general theory of diction suitable for modern Odia literature. While advocating the use of an “unalloyed home-spoken idiom” as the medium of literary expression, he recommends the eschewal of narrowly dialectal elements and the speech of people from lower strata. In the process, he hopes a standard home-spoken idiom will emerge. Thus, even as he seeks to democratize literary diction, Gopal Chandra baulks at giving the democratic spirit free rein. This review is significant for its insightful discussion of the implications of the advent of realism in Odia literature. This also illustrates how book reviews shaped modern critical discourse in Odisha.
