P. Dalai1 & Dhriti Ray Dalai2
1Associate Professor, Dept. of English, Faculty of Arts, Banaras Hindu University, India. ORCID: 0000-0002-6497-6091. Email: p.dalai10@bhu.ac.in
2Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Faculty of Arts, Banaras Hindu University, India. ORCID: 0000-0002-7066-7578. Email: dhriti.dalai10@bhu.ac.in
Volume 12, Number 4, July-September, 2020 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n4.07
Abstract
Similar to the peasantry, the tribal, the working women, the housewives, and all of those of the 19th century who engaged the attention of subaltern historians and Marxists, the prostitutes too merit critical attention and space in literary discourse. A number of Bengali texts throughout the 19th century had contributed in disseminating the image of the prostitute as the other of the good woman. We, in the course of this paper, focus instead on the early twentieth century and on Fakir Mohan Senapati and his epochal story, “Patent Medicine” that typified this societal understanding in the Bengal province, of which, Orissa was a part. The paper undertakes a hermeneutical attempt to unravel the unexplored aspects of sexuality, feudalism, patriarchy, domesticity and toxic masculinity.
Keywords: Patent Medicine, Prostitutes, Patriarchy, Odia Literature, Bengal Province, Feminism, Gyno-space,Toxic Masculinity
