(RJELAL) Research Journal of English Language and Literature Vol.3.Issue 4.2015 A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal (Oct-Dec) http://www.rjelal.com
RESEARCH ARTICLE
EXPERIMENTS IN FORM AND CONTENT: APPROXIMATING INDIAN PROGRESSIVE WRITING IN CONTEMPORARY LITERARY DISCOURSE
GHULAM MOHAMMAD KHAN Research Scholar Department of English and Foreign Languages Central University of Haryana
ABSTRACT Given the unprecedented intellectual and critical activity in the field of literary and cultural studies, theorists, creative writers and public intellectuals have grown conscious of the arbitrariness and fluidity of the ideological and epistemological structures at work in the theory industry. The form as well content of modern literary texts come under the influence of these structures or thought processes in one way or the other. In these literary and theoretical complexities, there is a possibility of exploring and re-reading the great oeuvre of Progressive Writings. This paper will study, how certain literary and ideological experiments employed by various Progressive writers are still as relevant as they were in late 1930’s and early 1940’s, when the movement was at its peak. Progressive writers’ departure from the ponderous romantic and imaginative ebullience and formal and lexical intricacies of the nineteenth and early twentieth century poets and fiction writers and embracing a new pattern of both form and content are still very relevant and authentic issues in the field of literary studies. Though this writers’ association disintegrated and finally demised after the Independence, the writers of this association had already invested an unparallel effort to turn literature into a vehicle of social realism. Keywords: Progressive Writing, Literature, Movement, Ideology, Criticism, Condition, Form and Content. ©KY PUBLICATIONS
INTRODUCTION literature will meet our demand which has thought, In his presidential address to the passion for freedom, beauty, a constructive spirit, Progressive Writers’ Movement’s (PWM) first the light of life’s realities; that moves, creates a congress held in 1936, Munshi Premchand defined turmoil and turbulence, makes us restless, does not the objectives and the whole enterprise of the put us to sleep since it would be akin to death if we Movement as an omnium gatherum of intellectual sleep more (Anwar). The objectives of the efforts set to produce an oeuvre of literature, the Movement, though the political turbulence of the high point of which would be the common man, the time and the gathering storm of public discontent suppressed, or those who have been rendered against the imperial rule intermittently occluded the voiceless by the harsh disciplinary mechanism of the Movement’s march forward, were creatively imperial regime. Premchand maintained that the devised to establish a powerful literary canon that 498 GHULAM MOHAMMAD KHAN
(RJELAL) Research Journal of English Language and Literature Vol.3.Issue 4.2015 A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal (Oct-Dec) http://www.rjelal.com
would not only check the hide-bound literary for the ‘reiteration of the values getting lost in conventions that isolated literature from the actual modern commercial age, or distorted under the lived condition of a human society, but also break weight of the decaying social systems” (Jafri). During free from these conventions to formulate a new 1930’s the major problems that degenerated, and in discourse where human life in its varied forms in a way disintegrated Indian society included political various situations should be the centrifugal force subjection, extreme social backwardness, hunger, of the whole intellectual activity. The seeds of illiteracy and poverty. PWM were sown with the publication of Angare It is not that the movement was created by (Burning Embers), a collection of ten short stories by a band of young hot-headed intellectuals who Sajjad Zahir, Rashid Jahan, Ahmed Ali and shared any specific ideology, but it was a spectrum Mahmuduzzafar. Published in Lucknow in of different shades of literary and political December 1932, the book was the “first perspectives. On one side the movement’s iconic ferocious attack on the society in modern and prolific writer Premchand followed Gandhism literature. It was a declaration of war by the youth staunchly, and on the other equally formidable voice of the middle class against the prevailing social, of the Movement, Sajjad Zahir, profoundly political and religious institutions” (Mahmud). The supported the Marxist interpretations of history and stories of Sajjad Zahir and Ahmed Ali criticized the human civilization. In between these two writers enslavement to bogus social and religious practices, emerged various other shades including non- the economic disparities and the shameful conformists like Hasrat Mohani, Abdul Haq, Sarojini acquiescence in the imperial rule. Mahmuduzzafar Naidu, and Dr. Abid Hussain, but all of them and Rashid Jahan boldly talked about the collectively and positively worked for a single cause powerlessness of the women folk in the social of the freedom of our nation and the glory of hierarchy and the religious dogmas that enslaved literature. Some of the prominent writers who them to the demands of the male folk. Though the passionately and zealously worked for the inflammatory and outrageous content of the book Progressive Writer’s Movement include Sajjad Zahir, had to suffer rejections and denunciations Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Sayyid Mutalabbi Faridabadi, everywhere, it still helped the formation of a group Premchand, Saadat Hasan Manto, Ismat Chugtai, Ali of authors, who later established an association in Sardar Jafri, Ahmed Naseem Qasmi, Krishan Chander 1936 known as the All India Progressive Writer’s and Rajender Singh Bedi. Seemingly there was Association (AIPWA). The Association started nothing wrong with the constitution and objectives evolving when the juggernaut of nationalism had of the Movement, but its reception among the social charged the imagination of the masses and elites as well as political circles was not initially all that alike. Slowly and gradually the same imagination good. It had to face the public outrage for being flowed into the realm of literature where it was radically experimental with both style and semantics taken up by Progressive Writers with a more as well the denunciations from the British intense, elaborate and realistic approach. government for generating a strong nationalist Progressive writings, according to a famous narrative. Thought the Movement declined and communist and Urdu scholar Ralph Russell reflected disintegrated slowly after the Independence in 1947, empathy for the poor and the questioning of exiting its different experiments with form and content customs as well as desire for liberation from foreign in literature continue to be apposite and rule and indigenous elites (Russell 70). The stimulating with contemporary writers. Progressive movement did not begin as a violent departure from writers, being well in touch with the recent the tradition or a long cherished history of literary developments in literary criticism and theory and conventions, but aimed at removing certain cultural studies, experimented many new techniques outmoded and obscurantist trends that had in both fiction and poetry. The thematics of wine, distanced realism from these conventions. Since its beloved, landscape and extravagant aesthetics gave inception, the Movement had unflinchingly worked way to some broiling and sensitive political and
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(RJELAL) Research Journal of English Language and Literature Vol.3.Issue 4.2015 A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal (Oct-Dec) http://www.rjelal.com
social issues of the time. Let’s first focus on how imagery structure to the poem; used the progressive writers brought in several innovative rhyme scheme with fresh vigour and changes in poetic form and content and how the introduced and developed new forms like same continues to be relevant today. free verse, dramatic and allegorical Poetry and Progressive Writer’s Movement poems, with experiments in meters; gave It is a fact that the genre of poetry is not it an ideological content and used it as a subject to any system where both form and content weapon in the freedom struggle of India; are permanently fixed for the same. Poetry is a denounced decadence and cynicism, yet language in which the poet can explore any aspect of discovered in this attitude also an element the universe, of human existence, of corporeal, of of protest against existing conditions; celestial, of spiritual or any other aspect. It is in the enriched the treasury of poetic diction by words of Ali Sardar Jafri “an autonomous Republic of using ordinary and common words which Letters within the sovereign State of Human the older classical poets had banished from Civilization, but not a law unto itself” (Jafri). Before the realm of poetry, and thus came closer the dawn of PWM on the literary scene, the to the people. (Jafri) bromidic and extravagant romantic and imaginative With radical experiments in poetic form, verse encased in a ponderous and ornate but progressive poets also modified the content esoteric language had already taken a heavy toll on aspect of poetry. The ecstasy and disillusionment the genre of poetry. Excluding some of the great born out of the socio-political turmoil became the poems of Allama Iqbal and Mirza Galib and some kernel of poetry. Poets altered the connotations sporadic verses, much of the poetry in Urdu and of old terms and allusions and loaded them with other Indian languages was fantastic and fresh content according to the temper of the implausible. With the emergence of the burgeoning times. The progressive poet Makhdoom verse of the Progressive poets like Faiz Ahmad Faiz Mohiuddin’s (1908-1969) following two lines (1911-1984), Asrar-ul-Haq Majaz (1911-1955), highlight this shift: Majrooh Sultanpuri (1919-2000), and Moin Ahsan Kohe-e-gam aur giran aur giran aur giran Jazbi (1912-2005), both the technique and Gamzado teshe ko chamkao ke kuch raat expression in poetry underwent a massive change. kate. The poetic form was disimprisoned from the earlier (The mountain of sorrow becomes heavier technical intricacies and the fetters of consistent and heavier O comrades of sorrow, take patterns of meter and rhyme which was sometimes up your shining axes to cut the rocks of the violently forced on verse only to make it look more night) (Jafri) artificial. This departure from tradition does not In old classical poetry the term ‘teshe’ (axe) stood mean Progressive poetry lacked formal charm. It has for an instrument of suicide and now it was the its own flow and aesthetic value. Following the Ezra symbol of the triumphant working class. Pound dictum ‘make it new’, the Progressive poets In the overall oeuvre of progressive boldly experimented in ‘free verse’ and ‘dramatic poetry, the contribution of Faiz Ahmed Faiz stands poetry’. Similarly, the imaginative and fanciful at the top. Faiz wrote in both prose and verse to affluence wasted on clichéd and irrelevant issues like “denounce obstruction at home and to champion the tresses of beloved, the separation from beloved, progressive causes abroad” (Kiernan 24). His the imaginative glasses of wine etc., were poems, couched in pure literary idiom were overturned by many relevant socio- political and coloured by “socialist feeling, for socialism was the cultural issues. Ali Sardar Jafri writes in this new revelation that young idealists could invoke to connection: exorcise communal rancours” (23). In his poetry The Progressive Movement widened the Faiz carefully appropriated the teachings of Marx, horizon of poetry; liberated it from the Hegel and Engels, who in their writings have classical cliché, and added fresh modern emphatically “urged everyone to be empathetic
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(RJELAL) Research Journal of English Language and Literature Vol.3.Issue 4.2015 A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal (Oct-Dec) http://www.rjelal.com
in understanding the problems faced by the Olson’s critical assessment of the formal aspect of labourers” (Bashir). In the following lines of his poetry. In his celebrated essay famous poem “Bol” (Speak) Faiz addresses the ‘Projective Verse’ Olson called for poetry, where downtrodden (labourer): “field composition resisted the closed form of Bol, ke lab azad hain tere: Bol, zaban ab mainstream poetry. Field composition was a tak teri ha, Tera sutwan jism ha tera Bol, poetics of improvisation and spontaneity, rather ke jan ab tak teri ha. than using worn-out, inherited forms” (Woods 85). (Speak, for your lips are free: This trend-setting tradition in poetry did not fade Speak, your tongue is still your own; This way from the literary scene with the demise of its straight body still is yours- Speak, your life originators, but it continues to be relevant today. still your own) (Kiernan 87) Their poetic form is still a reliable and appropriate The following lines are equally replete with the form to deal with the condition of modern India. emotion for the oppressed: Contemporary Indian poets like A.K. Ramanujan, Jab kabhi bikta hai bazaar main mazdur ka Arun Kolatkar, Amit Chaudhri, Amol Redij, Bibhu gosht, Shahrahon pe gharibon ka lahu Padhi, C.P. Surendran, Gieve Patel, Jayanti behta hai. Mahapatra, Keki Daruwalla, Nandini Sahu and Ag-si sine main rah-rahke ubalti ha, na many more continue the tradition of Progressive puchh! Apne dil par mujhe qabu hi nahin poets in both thought and style. rahta hai. Fiction, Ideology and Progressive Movement (When labourers’ flesh is sold in chaffering In the field of fiction, Progressive writers streets, Or pavements run with poor produced exemplary short fiction, whereas the men’s blood, a flame That lurks inside me trend of writing full length novels came to a sudden blazes up beyond All power of pause. The genre of short story became a more questioning; do not ask its name).(74) convenient tool for Progressive writers to express A host of other poets like Majaz, Ahmed Naseem their discontent at the burgeoning political Qasmi, Amrita Pritam, Hasrat Mohani, Kaifi Azmi, radicalism and social inequalities. Mehr Afshan Sardar Jafri etc. followed in the footsteps of Faiz. Farooqi, an Assistant Professor of South Asian Much of their poetry analyzed the “contemporary Literature at the University of Virginia, writes in the social relations in terms of Marxist concepts like Introduction to her book The Oxford India economic determinism and class struggle” (Bashir). Anthology of Modern Urdu Literature: In Jamal Ali Bashir’s opinion they changed the In my opinion, the disappearance of novel perception of reading poetry and created an form in Urdu has much to do with the “entirely new form of consciousness” and added a Progressive-Marxist culture as well as the new style of writing Indian literature, a style that location of the movement in a space and made evident “deep and grave realities about life time where shorter narrative form was the and problems faced by common people”, in a ideal vehicle for conveying the message of language rich in “aesthetic beauty and sensitivity to social liberalism that was the role their human feelings and conditions” (Bashir). ideology assigned to literature. (Farooqi Such adventures in thought and technique XXVI) also enjoy a certain degree of acceptance in Like their contemporary poets, the progressive contemporary literary criticism and theory. Both fiction writers used literature as a weapon in the are against the totalization or fixation of any trend battle for socio-political change. What interested in both prose and poetry. Contemporary poets and them more was the faithful portrayal of the novelists enjoy a fair degree of liberty with both the prostitutes, labourers, and the domestic servants. selection of content and narrative technique. In most of the progressive works “delineation of Progressive poetry came very close to Charles character gave way to the plot which generally moved in a linear fashion” (Farooqi).
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Most of the progressive writers had Other eminent progressive fiction writers travelled different parts of the world; some of them who are still enthusiastically read include Ismat having studied in England. Feeling inspired by the Chugtai, Manto, Bedi, Krishan Chander, Premchand, earth-shaking theories of Marx, Hegel and Engels, Mulk Raj Anand and Ahmed Ali. Inspired by Soviet and by the writings of Dickens and Thackeray in Communism, Russian revolution and international England, Stendhal and Flaubert in France, and Marxism, these writers established a unique Gogol, Pushkin, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky in Russia, tradition of Indian literature, which has the power Progressive writers incorporated many new ideas, to survive through generations to come. Avoiding styles and techniques in Indian literature. They the art for art’s sake mania, Premchand’s novel adopted Marxism as the most powerful tool to Godan and short stories, and Mulk Raj Anand’s analyze the structure of modern society. They Untouchable and The Coolie lay bare the entrails thought that “reality is the product of social actions of the diverse Indian society. Manto and Ismat and they believed in realism and, therefore, Chugtai are the most controversial progressive believed that art cannot be divorced from class writers till date, for they experimented too much struggles” (Malik). Angare was the first such book with both the form and content. They fearlessly to fashion literature on socialist or Marxist deconstructed the age- old social taboos and ideology. Dubbed as inflammatory in nature as brought the themes like human sexuality, intimacy, having “hurt the religious susceptibilities of a desire and obscenity in the domain of literature. section of the community”, this collection of short They were influenced by the “works of Freud stories was banned by the United Provinces state [which] prompted them to write about human government in India (Madhu Singh). Apart from sexuality more openly than others of the time” radically experimenting with the writing style, the (Bashir). In 1941, the short stories Bu (Odor) by book dealt with issues like “class antagonisms in Manto and Lihaaf (Quilt) by Ismat Chugtai were the then Indian society”, “individual self-respect of charged in Lahore high court for practicing the cult every man”, and also conveyed the message that of obscene in literature. Though rejected for their “man is the creator of his destiny and he is capable socialist and leftist leanings, and obscene and of utilizing nature for his own benefit” (Bashir). salacious content in their own time, both these London ki Ek Raat (A Night in London) by Sajjad writers are indispensably relevant in modern day Zahir is another seminal progressive work. This India. The extraordinary readership of the stories novella marks the complete break with the fiction like Toba tek Singh, Khol Do and Tehri Lakir (The writing tradition. It did not embarrass the readers Crooked Line) is enough evidence to prove their with its content less, but with its style more. relevance today. Written under the profound influence of James Krishan Chander was a prolific Progressive Joyce’s Ulysses and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, writer. He churned novel after novel. His first London ki Ek Raat was an experiment in fiction celebrated novel Shikst (Defeat), 1943, presented writing that adopted a “variety of avant garde the “misery, loneliness, and dehumanization that European styles and techniques” (e.g. stream of results from urban expansion and industrialization” consciousness, interior monologue) and was also (Farooqi). Rajinder Singh Bedi and Ahmed Ali the first writing to “display the ideologies and shared the same ideological affinities as Premchand aspirations of Indian youth in the political context and Mulk Raj Anand. Bedi’s short story collections of India” (Singh). The novella depicted the anger of Grehan (The Eclipse), Daan-o-Daam (The Catch), the young men who studied in London and knew its featuring his one of the most celebrated story repressive policies in India. During the heyday of “Garam Coat” (Warm Coat) and the novel Ek Indian nationalism, London had become a “hot Chadar Maili Si, translated into English as “I Take bed of radical anti-colonial activity” (Ranasinha This Woman” are thematically very close to 33). Premchand’s writings. Similarly, avoiding any linguistic and thematic intricacies, Ahmad Ali’s
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stories Hamari Gali and Mera Kamra (My Room) Bashir, Jamal Ali. “Marxist Influence on All-India dealt with the relevant themes like feudalism, Progressive Writers’ Movement.” capitalism and imperialism. A number of other Literarism: The Republic of Letters (a Blog). writers belong to this movement. Its influence on Web. 14 Nov. 2015. modern Indian literature is immense. It opened up
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