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Splendid Story-Telling Madhuban Poudel builds on
interesting, everyday plots to express various hues of inner feelings By A CORRESPONDENT As a short-story writer, Madhuban Poudel
has built a firm reputation for choosing vivid, everyday characters who explain the social
and cultural realities of Nepali life. In his quest to bring to the fore different aspects
of the human experience that are inextricably woven into its surroundings, Poudel zeroes
in on individual problems that mirror the larger societal context. Poudel's stories span a vibrant range of
subjects and techniques, from the inner struggles of the individual and his social
challenges to issues of religious faith and personal affections. These compelling story
lines tackle problems of personal and social identities in parallel. Poudel's stories are
important chronicles of our times and facilitate a purposeful understanding of personal
relationships. As Nepali poetry and short stories have
acquired increasing demand in recent years, books are arriving in the market faster and
more diverse qualities. Poudel's latest book "Avataran Ra Aru Kathaharu"
(Landing and other Stories) is published by Royal Nepal Academy. Unlike his previous four
books, the author focuses his attention on social maladies. In highly elementary expressions, Poudel
attempts to describe love, affections and emotions of the individual. His stories deal
with various social phenomena. Amid the growing frustrations of the day and the confused
state of affairs, he has delved deep into human problems. Poudel discovers the identity of the
individual, confronts human problems and establishes their relation to the universe. In
doing so, he draws new plots from day-to-day happenings in society. Narrations of love,
hate and individual friendship pulsate throughout his stories. In this collection of 33 stories, Poudel
portrays the challenges, hardships and difficulties of the individual. He analyses the
consequences of social confrontations in purely human terms. As society passes from a
period of entrenched traditional values to a fast-paced phase of modernity, Poudel's
stories provide a glowing glimpse of the difficulties of the transition. The problems encountered in everyday life
have much to do with cultural, religious and personal preferences and predilections.
Poudel peppers these realities with episodes of tragedy, love, individual problems, and
contemporary political issues. In this way, his stories are replete with varied
interpretations of society and the complexities of human relationships. "Poudel's stories are more related to
the complexity of the individual rather than social problems," said Madan Mani Dixit,
former vice-chancellor of Royal Nepal Academy. "He has a remarkable ability to grasp
the situation and present it in simple manner." Poudel's description of events and narration of characters are unique in the sense that they exercise lively conversation. His style and presentation seem to be inspired at times by Rabindra Nath Tagore,
Guy de Maupassant. Emile Zola and
Sarat Chandra. Although his stories are full of romance
and varied expressions of human emotions, he avoids the vulgarization of relations between
different groups. The expressions of all his characters are symbolic and natural. Poudel
tackles difficult themes carefully, avoiding the use of offensive words and bringing to
life a vivid picture of society as it exists. Avataran Ra Aru Kathaharu |
Send your feedback to the
editor: spotligh@mos.com.np |
