Paper short abstract:

Rabindranath Tagore has remained the “undisputable” core of Bengali literary- cultural practices thus marginalizing other literary modes and influences of performative modes on literature. This paper analyses this Tagorean “core” through the peripheral literary productions of Chandril Bhattacharya.

Paper long abstract:

"Has anyone seen the laughing face of Rabindranath?" In a response to this question (at a discussion in 2014 on Bengali humorous literature), columnist/author Chandril Bhattacharya pointed out how humour in Bengali literature was seen as "less accomplished" than the other literary forms. Tagore has remained the "unquestionable" core of Bengali literary and cultural practices, the most "undisputable" among his enthusiasts being his "standard" musical notation system and the literary style of his writings. This literary-musical standardization reflects what might be understood as Michel de Certeau's '"supersessionist" model for modernity' which shows a transition from orality to literacy (Caplan, 2011). As a subversive-responsive periphery to this "core" of the Bengali cultural world, this paper would analyse some of the writings and songs of Chandril Bhattacharya. Chandril's prose (as also his lyrics) exemplify a peripheral upheaval in terms of achieving a shock-effect through the use of extreme colloquialism, urban vernacularism and derisive humour. At another level this subversive prose allows a blatant critique of tradition and modernity in scrutinizing contemporary socio-political events by juxtaposing the two together. Walter J Ong (2002) shows how words are tyrannically locked in the visual field by the act of writing and thus becomes superior to the ephemerality of the oral. The Tagorean standard not only marginalized other literary modes but also the influence of performative modes on literature. Does Chandril's prose/lyrics recuperate those performative modes in its subversion from the periphery? Does it itself tend to become a "core" in the process? If so, how?