Bengali science fiction narrative and the creation of Premendra Mitra/ বাংলা কল্পবিজ্ঞানের আখ্যান ও প্রেমেন্দ্র মিত্রের নির্মিতি

Abstract

"Science fiction is no more pseudo-science than fiction is pseudo-truth."

                       - John Wood Campbell in 'Concerning Science Fiction' (1946)

We can classify all types of prose literature by dividing it into two categories: fiction and non-fiction. We can also divide fiction into speculative fiction and the fiction of mainstream. Science fiction is a genre from speculative fiction which tells us about imaginative progress of science and technology based upon a story. It often focussing on the impact of continued advancement of science and technology on society and civilization. The first science fiction story in bengali science fiction is Hemlal Dutta's ' Rahasya'. I have discussed the beginning of the genre in my article. Premendra Mitra was a very famous writer in science fiction writing. His first science fiction novel was ' Pipre Puran ' and in 'Ghanada' series was 'Masha'.He wrote his science fiction stories by mixing scientific knowledge with geographical information from home and abroad. I have discussed selected 'Ghanada' stories in my article to prove that Premendra Mitra was a very prominent writer in bengali science fiction writing. As per boundaries of word limit I have discussed very short introduction of the emergence of bengali science fiction.