Akhil Puthiyadath Veetil
Manipal Centre for Philosophy and Humanities, Manipal University. Email: akhil.veetil@gmail.com
Volume IX, Number 3, 2017 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v9n3.22
Received August 10, 2017; Revised September 13, 2017; Accepted September 15, 2017; Published September 20, 2017.
Abstract
This article explores the theme of old age and attempts to understand whether nostalgia can be understood without reducing it to revivalism. Using Nirmal Verma’s novel Antim Aranya and his short story “Pichli Garmiyon Mein”, the article shows that Verma uses several literary techniques in order to suspend time and evoke contemplation albeit without providing any prescriptive conclusions. Furthermore, contemplation along with nostalgia is never presented by Verma as an attempt to recreate the past. On the contrary, nostalgia presented through old age acts as a critique of modernity and its interpretation of progress. Therefore, Verma’s writings can be seen as an ethical stance against a future and goal-oriented framework, which alienates individuals from all generations.
Keywords: nostalgia, memory, Nirmal Verma, Hindi Literature
