Volume II, Special Issue, February 2026
Volume-II, Special Issue, February, 2026 |
Received: 25.12.2025 | Accepted: 03.01.2026 | ||
Published Online: 28.02.2026 | Page No: | ||
DOI: 10.69655/atmadeep.vol.2.specialissue.W. | |||
বাণী বসুর ছোটগল্প: মধ্যবিত্তের জীবন আলেখ্য শান্তি দাস, গবেষক, বাংলা বিভাগ, রায়গঞ্জ বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়, পশ্চিমবঙ্গ, ভারত |
Bani Basu’s Short Stories: A Portrait of Middle-Class Life Shanti Das, Research Scholar, Department of Bengali, Raiganj University, West Bengal, India | ||
ABSTRACT | ||
Bani Basu is one of the eminent fiction writers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. As accomplished works of art, her contemporary short stories are enriched by diverse life experiences. Globalization has brought changes in the standard of living of Bengalis. Parallel to these changes, there has been a transformation and evolution in Bengali thought. Bengali life experiences have found firm expression in narrative art. The dynamic life of Kolkata, familiar to her since childhood, has been reflected in various ways in Bani Basu’s sensibility. She has observed the impact of globalization on human life nourished by the soil and ethos of Kolkata. The irresistible obsession with the accumulation of wealth and the overwhelming attraction towards a life enriched by advertising affluence gradually engulf the Bengali middle class. They come to fix an ideal of an easily attainable lifestyle, where the foundation of values is worn and fragile. As the middle class moves from narrowness to increasing narrowness, it exiles itself to an island of loneliness. Even while surrounded by others, it carries the agony of solitude within its heart and at times is driven towards self-destruction. Yet, despite this, the Bengali middle class is not indifferent to life. In order to survive and preserve their existence, they continue to struggle for life. The short stories of Bani Basu become eloquent through their artistic depiction of this life narrative of the Bengali middle class. In her stories such as Sujit–Mitu and Lakshmi’s Panchali, Lakshmi’s Resignation, Dadara, Haran–Prapti–Niruddesh, Bastu, Dhoya, and Lona, the portrayal of middle-class life makes a claim to uniqueness. In narrative style, selection of incidents, and exploration of the middle-class psyche, she maintains artistic integrity throughout. Believing that the short story is an art of its time and enriched by lived experience, her characters emerge from this conviction. All aspects of social existence receive profound respect in her writing. | ||
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