A Journal of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

significant. Since real aspects like history
and society are negligible in these three
novels of Agyeya, these novels are, on
the whole, one - dimensional (existential
- individualistic) and unrealistic (lacking
societal and historical elements). A critical
analysis of a creative work expects a realist
depiction of society and history and
therefore realist perspective focuses more
on social concerns. An interest in literature
means an interest in man/ woman, society
and civilization. The famous Hindi poet
and critic Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh
rightly called criticism as ‘sabhyata -
sameeksha’ (‘critique of civilization’). But
unfortunately Agyeya (following Aristotle
who usually talked of ‘autonomy of
literature’ which, in turn, means ‘art for
art’s sake’. But this view may be criticized
on three grounds: first, any art is directly
or indirectly, crudely or minutely,
associated with life because a writer or
artist is first and foremost a human being
and his economic, political and social
conditions affect his art. The inter-connected
ideology, hegemony and other forces
remain active in real life; second, even
the subconscious or unconscious of human
mind affects one’s thoughts and forms of
arts, as S. Freud has rightly proved; third,
as structuralists have pointed out, a creative
writing is to be contextualized and decoded
by the critics or readers in a larger structure
because an author is an agent who encodes
his message from the language (which is
a structure of signs)— thus a writer is
not fully original and autonomous in true
sense. We tend to agree with Lukacs who
finds the novels of Leo Tolstoy and Balzac
more realistic (despite not being leftist)
than those of declared Marxist - novelists
because the former depicted social reality
as reflected in their characterization in
historical contexts. A piece of literature,
especially a novel, shows the trends of
social deviance, tensions, conflicts
contradictions, instability and disharmony
in a contemporary society. But Agyeya’s
three novels somehow lack these
sociological dimensions (hence lack
‘sociological imagination’) because of his
closeness to individualist - existentialism.
However, there is no doubt that these
three novels are notable because of their
literariness, poetics, idioms, and attractive
style.
Subhash Sharma, born 1959, educated in J.N.U., author of ten books
including books in English ‘why people protest, dialectics of agrarian
development.’ His main interests include culture, environment, education
and development. He works in Ministry of Defence and lives in New
Delhi.
January-March 2012 :: 61