The Art of Prose in Kamalkumar Majumdar’s ‘Antarjali Yatra’/ ‘অন্তর্জলী যাত্রা’য় কমলকুমার মজুমদারের গদ্যশৈলী

Abstract

Kamalkumar Majumdar (1914-1979) is almost unanimously known as well as famed as one of the most unintelligible writers in the vast and varied mosaic of Bengali literatures. From his first novel, ‘Antarjali Yatra’, Kamalkumar adopted an almost unprecedented style of story-telling to which the average Bengali readers were not accustomed yet. This strangeness and unintelligibility went on to the extent of making the readers, at least the ones who were ready for something else in a more docile way of presentation, avoid him altogether, though he got a small group of readers who were fascinated with his works.

            Kamalkumar Majumdar started novel writing at a relatively later part of his career. Actually he did his spadework quite thoroughly by educating and readying himself for the field he was going to explore. His education, though, was not confined to the conventional framework of any academic curriculum. Kamalkumar Majumdar was into painting without any formal knowledge from any specific school of art. He was an extensive reader and almost gobbled whatever was written in Bengali in his time. Besides, he learnt the French language well enough to enrich and enlighten his mental fabric.

            Before Independence, during the World War II, he made money through maritime export-import, pisciculture and spent a life of luxury which was in sharp contrast to the life of penury he led and accepted nonchalantly in the post-Independence time. He had no source of permanent or stable income at that time which led him to take up a variety of temporary jobs associated with arts and craft. This was followed by a somewhat settled and secured job of a teacher of arts and craft in South Point School. In the meanwhile, he got an opportunity to come on contact with and study the rural life and culture of Bengal from close quarters owing to his involvement in the census of Bengal on a reference from ICS Ashok Mitra.

            Where Kamalkumar started writing his masterpiece ‘Antarjali Yatra’, he had already accumulated and enriched himself with a host of versatile knowledge of art, music, folk art and culture, French, English and Sanskrit literature, sculpture etc. Thus, ‘Antarjali Yatra’ is a reflection as well as an outcome of his versatile character, his multidimensional personality and genius. In the article in question, we shall try to delve into the enigma of his words, the intricacies of his sentences that were liberated from the chains, from the bondage of meaning what they were supposed to mean, until then!