{"id":998,"date":"2026-06-17T07:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T07:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/?p=998"},"modified":"2026-06-18T08:58:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T08:58:42","slug":"9788197513022-06","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/9788197513022-06\/","title":{"rendered":"Reimagining Kolkata: Subaltern Narratives and the Colonial Urban Dystopia in Kallol Magazine\u2019s Literature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nandini Gayen <\/i><\/span><\/a> <\/i><\/a> <\/span><\/strong>
\nResearch Scholar, Department of English, Banaras Hindu University.<\/p>\n

\"DOI\"10.21659\/9788197513022.06<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Abstract<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Kallol<\/em> (1923-1929), a prominent literary magazine of Bengal published under the joint editorship of Dineshranjan Das and Gokulchandra Nag, became a mouthpiece for challenging the dominant Bhadralok hegemony in the Bengal Presidency. As the colonial capital and centre of modernisation, Kolkata was both a place of hope and frustration for young migrants arriving from mofussil towns in search of better lives. However, the Bhadralok account, disseminated by the city\u2019s bourgeoisie, tended to overlook the realities experienced by the underbelly. Kallol, as a cultural and literary movement in Bengal, portrayed Kolkata as a city of stark contrasts, defined by fragmented spaces and marginalised lives. Drawing on Lefebvre\u2019s conception of space as a political construct and Certeau\u2019s framework of tactics versus strategies, this paper analyses how Kallol\u2019s stories, poems, and essays expose the city\u2019s \u201cthird spaces\u201d of resistance, where marginalised clerks, labourers, and migrants navigate oppressive urban hierarchies. By closely reading the texts that appeared in Kallol, this article examines how the cityscape of Kolkata becomes a place where illusions of progress are subverted by economic exploitation, poverty, and the erosion of human dignity. These urbanscapes in Kallol stand not only for physiographic locations but also for psychological topographies that bring to the fore the desperation of clerks confined to demeaning jobs, labourers exploited in industrial areas, and families suffering from squalor and uncertainty. This portrayal underpins the attempt to constitute Kolkata as a fractured entity, where the relentless pace of modernisation left its residents in disconnection, disillusionment, and confinement within its dystopian boundaries. This paper will trace the contours of an uncompromised critique of Kallol<\/em> in reimagining Kolkata as a dystopian space that reveals the human cost of colonial modernity and rapid urbanisation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Keywords<\/strong>:<\/em> Urban Dystopia, Elite Hegemony, Spatial Politics, Colonial Urbanism, Resistance, Subaltern Agency, Fragmented Cityscapes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Full-Text Chapter PDF<\/a> Full Text Book PDF<\/a><\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Urban Imaginaries and Indian Cities in Literature<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

\"DOI\"10.21659\/9788197513022<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Table of Contents<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Front Matter<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Urban Imaginaries and Indian Cities in Literature: An Introduction<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Neethu P Antony and Dr. Arpana Venu<\/p>\n

Abstract<\/a> Full Text PDF<\/span><\/a>  <\/p>\n

\n

City as Micro-Narratives of Senses and Everyday Experiences: An Analytical Study of Selected Stories from People Called Kolkata<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Olivia Joseph<\/p>\n

Abstract<\/a> Full Text PDF<\/span><\/a>  <\/p>\n

\n

Multilingual Metropolis: The Politics of Language and Belonging in Guwahati Through Sheelabhadra\u2019s Fiction<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Sangeeta Bhagawati<\/p>\n

Abstract<\/a> Full Text PDF<\/span><\/a>  <\/p>\n

\n

Spatial (re)orientations and Epic structures of the urban in Fareeda Mehta\u2019s Kali Salwaar<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Elroy Pinto<\/p>\n

Abstract<\/a> Full Text PDF<\/span><\/a>  <\/p>\n

\n

Between Tramline and Traffic Jam: Mapping Indian City through Satyajit Ray\u2019s Mahanagar<\/em> and Anurag Basu\u2019s Life in a\u2026Metro<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Trisha Sengupta & Dr. Sanghamitra Baladhikari<\/p>\n

Abstract<\/a> Full Text PDF<\/span><\/a>  <\/p>\n

\n

Reimagining Kolkata: Subaltern Narratives and the Colonial Urban Dystopia in Kallol Magazine\u2019s Literature<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nandini Gayen<\/p>\n

Abstract<\/a> Full Text PDF<\/span><\/a>  <\/p>\n

\n

Walking, Writing and Resisting the City: Spatial Tactics and Postcolonial Reimaginings in Janice Pariat\u2019s Everything the Light Touches<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Parvin Sultana<\/p>\n

Abstract<\/a> Full Text PDF<\/span><\/a>  <\/p>\n

\n

Mimesis, Montage and Mapping: A Spatial Analysis of Gangtok City Scapes in the Select Works of Satyajit Ray and Prajwal Parajuly<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Sudakshina Bhattacharya, Dr. Sulagna Mohanty, and Dr. Ankusha Bandyopadhyay<\/p>\n

Abstract<\/a> Full Text PDF<\/span><\/a>  <\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nandini Gayen    Research Scholar, Department of English, Banaras Hindu University. 10.21659\/9788197513022.06 Abstract Kallol (1923-1929), a prominent literary magazine of Bengal published under the joint editorship of Dineshranjan Das and Gokulchandra Nag, became a mouthpiece for challenging the dominant Bhadralok hegemony in the Bengal Presidency. As the colonial capital and centre of modernisation, Kolkata was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,11,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-chapter","category-edited-volume","category-urban-imaginaries-and-indian-cities-in-literature"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=998"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1071,"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions\/1071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rupkatha.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}