 Prose in Marathi literature took a distinct turn in the twentieth century. Gangadhar Gadgil (1923), with Arvind Gokhale, Vyankatesh Madgulkar, and P. B. Bhave, ushered in what has been called the "new short story." The newness implied in the label refers to the return of realism. Gadgil led the charge against the false romantic-imaginary world exemplified in the works of Phadke and Khandekar. The de-humanizing industrial world, horrors of war, the partition, and changing social reality provided the writers of his generation with many themes to explore in their works. The newness of short stories of Gadgil and his contemporaries lay in their willingness to experiment with new techniques and themes with a sense of purpose.
Gadgil has experimented with the stream-of-consciousness technique in his novel 'Liliche Phul' (1955) to explore the inner conflicts of a person. Gadgil has published many collections of short stories over his long literary career. His 'Manaschitre' (1946), 'Kadu ani Goad' (1948), 'Navya Wata' (1950), 'Talawatila Chandane' (1954), 'Vegale Jaga' (1958), 'Gunakar' (1965), 'Athavana' (1978), and 'Uddhvastava Vishva' (1982) are representative of his work. Gadgil also firmly established writings on travel as a genre in Marathi literature. Earlier, Anant Kanekar wrote his 'Dhukyatun Lai Taryakade' (1940), a refreshing work on his travel experiences in the Soviet Union and Western Europe. His 'Amachi Mali, Amache Aakash' (1950) was about his travel in India with Dinanath Dalai, the artist. Gadgil's 'Sata Samudrapankade' (1959) is a chronicle of his travels in Europe and the United States. It is more impressionistic than documentary, reflecting on places and individuals he encountered. In 'Gopuranchya Pradeshat' (1952), he writes about his travels in south India. His descriptions of places reflect a sensitive and keen mind. Arvind Gokhale (1919) has earned his literary reputation through his contribution to the Marathi short story in the post-independence period. He has stayed with the genre throughout his career even at a time when his contemporaries were exploring other modes. As is common with many post-independence writers, an individual is the central point of his stories. Both men and women, individually and in their relationships, have been the subjects of his stories. They are examined in different places and situations. His stories are characterized by elegance, economy, restraint, and structure. His first collection, 'Nazarana', was published in 1944. He has written at a steady pace to produce more than 25 collections, of which 'Maker' (1949), 'Mithila' (1959), 'Anamika' (1961), and 'Nakoshi' (1977) are notable. Gokhale also made a conscious effort to sustain the short story as a genre. He brought out collections of short stories by other authors in Marathi. He has written about the work of well-known short story writers in other regional languages as well as in Pakistan and Bangladesh. P. B. Bhave (1910-80) was a productive writer, with 26 collections of short stories, 17 novels, eight plays, and 12 collections of articles. He was among the early writers who revived the short story in Marathi. His strong orthodox views color his work, his characters, and their relationships. In the period following the 1950's, the novels and short stories of Vyankatesh Madgulkar (1927) contributed to the popular interest in literature. His novel 'Bangarwadi' (1955) revolves around the experience of a young schoolteacher who moves into a small village. The initial feeling of being out of place gives way to a fondness for the people and the village. The novel is notable for its deceptively simple and direct style. In his later works, like 'Mandeshi Manase' (1972) and 'Goshti Gharakadila' (1977), he continues to draw on his knowledge of rural Maharashtra. He, along with D. M. Mirasdar and Shankar Patil, has popularized storytelling as a literary event. Shankar Paul's stories are also situated in rural Maharashtra, but his subjects show greater variety, and his treatment of his characters and situations goes beyond the apparent dissonance. Among the most distinguished writers of the genre of short stories is G. A. Kulkarni (1923-87), who brought new strength and vitality to the Marathi short story. A contemporary of Gangadhar Gadgil, Arvind Gokhale, and Vyankatesh Madgulkar, he did not subscribe to the cause of modernism in literature. He charted his own separate course and cultivated new acuity and taste for a class of faithful readers. He wrote at a steady pace over the years. His well-known collections of short stories include 'Nila Sawala', 'Parwa', 'Hirave Rawe', 'Raktachandan', 'Sanjashakun', 'Ramalkhuna', and 'Kusumgunja'. His 'Kajalamaya' received the Sahitya Akademi Award. G. A. Kulkarni, too, has created a world of his own where his characters are in pursuit of the unknowable destiny. There is a dark mood that reflects the enigmatic ways in which destiny controls the characters. His use of symbolism, allegory, and irony provides his stories a unique texture. His world encompasses a wide diversity of places, situations, characters, and experiences, yet, it is demarcated by the region bordering Maharashtra and Karnataka. His characters generally live in small towns, villages, and settlements in this region, but his stories cannot be classified under 'rural literature,' because the mythic, allegorical experiences make it difficult to sort out the realities from dreams, themes, and meditations. Yet, it is possible for the reader to identify with his characters, places, and experiences because of his keen observation of human, animal, and social worlds in their beauty and deformity. The characters in Kulkarni's works lead their lives as if they are puppets guided by an unseen hand and are unable to change the direction. Why they follow that path to their destruction or why they cannot change it by their will is not known.  Gauri Deshpande (1942) was one of the important women writers in contemporary Marathi literature. She has also published three collections of her poetry in English. She has made her mark on the Marathi short story and novel with themes and concerns that centre on the upper-middle-class cosmopolitan women. Her 'Eka Paan Galavaya' (1980) is a collection of three long stories. 'Turungatil Patre' is a story of an urbane and sensitive young woman who is trying to comprehend her relationships to men in her life. The second story in the collection, 'Madhya Latapatita,' is again a story of a happily married woman in that anxious passing phase of approaching middle age. She is unsure of the meaning and purpose of her married life. She leaves her husband, with whom she is living in a foreign country, and returns to Mumbai to re-assess the meaning she was seeking. The last story in the collection, 'Eka Paan Galavaya,' is about Radha, a woman past her middle age who has lost her husband recently. With a remarkable sensitivity, Deshpande depicts her struggles to free herself from the bonds of her children and friends to face her life ahead. Her later novels, 'Teruo ani Kahi Dooraparyant' (1985), 'Ahe He Asa Ahe' (1985), and 'Chandrike Ga Chandrike' (1987), show her quest to explore different dimensions of life in a refreshing way.
Thus novel and short story in Marathi literature reflect a number of diverse issues and are very realistic in their portrayal of the lives and problems of the people. |
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Prose in Marathi Literature
| Prose in Marathi literature reflected realism in the twentieth century as compared to the earlier Romanticism of the earlier centuries. A number of contemporary themes of a changing society were taken up and explored by the writers in their works. |
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