BLiterature-Apratim

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Jibanananda’s poems possess an innate consciousness about women, which
had a precursor in Sarat’s novels. His poems tell us of the catastrophe of love in the
modern world.
His poems bear the mark of townsmen’s nostalgia for country-life and nature
from what they’ve been alienated.
There is a sham accusation against him; it is that he just copied many of his
poems from English and other Western literatures which, I sternly say, is an insulting
infamy. I have matched his poems with those of the western poets who are called his
‘preceptors’ and have found that he just assimilated those. Now if assimilation is a
sin in the world of art, then all literary artists including Shakespeare must face
posthumous penalty.
In merit, Jibanananda stands next to Tagore in modern Bangla poetry. His
accidental death did not let him achieve the supremacy in poetry. A critic (Abdul
Mannan Syed) called him ‘the perfect poet’; this honoring of Jibanananda is not
entirely imperfect.
Showkat Osman (1917-’98)
The narrative style that Saratchandra had introduced in fiction, was advanced
by Tarashankar and Manik. Later it found a unique shape in the works from East
Bengal. Showkat Osman used the style of Sarat in portraying Bengali Muslim life of
the Eastern part of the province. His literary achievement (especially the novel
Janani) could be envied by Sarat himself. He took this typical style of fiction to a
different height.
Showkat’s Janani (Mother) is a great achievement not only of Bangla
literature but also of world fiction. Before him, Maxim Gorki, D.H. Lawrence, Manik
Bandyopadhay and Mahasweta Devi wrote on the similar theme. But in Showkat’s
novel, ‘mother’ has been unprecedentedly glorified. The mother portrayed by
Showkat achieves an eternal appeal.
A poor mother named Daria Bibi’s lifelong struggle for her children is
portrayed in this novel. After her first husband’s death, Daria marries for the second
time thinking of her son’s future. However, she is forced to leave him with her inlaws.
She gives birth to three more children by her second husband. Her husband,
who feels disturbed by cruel poverty, now and then leaves his family and goes out of
the village in search of livelihood. She forbears all these manners of her husband.
For her children, she sometimes goes against him.
Meanwhile, Daria’s distant brother-in-law, who is a lustful man, begins to
come to their house now and then. He helps them financially and thus wins their
heart. Daria finds him to have ill motive, but allows him thinking of her economic
helplessness. Her second husband too dies. Thereafter that shrewd person gratifies
her lust for Daria. But thinking of her sons’ survival, she accepts her victimization by
him. But more pathetically, the helpless widow becomes pregnant. She does not try
to abort the child rather she gives its birth with motherly affection. Therefore thinking
of her and her children’s humiliation in the society, she decides to take her own life.