''Maranottar'' (; English: Posthumous) is a
Gujarati novel by
Suresh Joshi. It is written almost in the form of lyrical prose letter style.
Content
The novel is prefaced with five different quotations, one each from
György Lukács
György Lukács (born Bernát György Löwinger; ; ; 13 April 1885 – 4 June 1971) was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher, literary historian, literary critic, and Aesthetics, aesthetician. He was one of the founders of Western Marxism, an inter ...
, ,
Malcolm Lowry
Clarence Malcolm Lowry (; 28 July 1909 – 26 June 1957) was an English poet and novelist who is best known for his 1947 novel ''Under the Volcano'', which was voted No. 11 in the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels list. ,
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry is noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in tone, ...
and
Paul Valéry
Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher.
In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, m ...
. The theme of death is presented in Lowry's quotation and the technique is suggested by Valery.
It has 45 short chapters in 71 printed pages. The chapters are built around the theme of approaching death, written with poetic imagery and ending with the poetic refrain of the name, 'Mrinal'. The novel is addressed to Mrinal, the lead female character, and some other characters like Sudhir, Gopi, Namita and Megha.
Joshi has used the techniques of an extraterrestrial narrator. The novel is narrated in
first person.
Criticism
It is considered as Joshi's prominent experimental novel.
However Ila Pathak wrote that, in ''Maranottar'' as well as in his another novel ''
Chhinnapatra'', the women characters appear only as the targets of men's lustful desires.
K. M. George K. M. George may refer to:
* K. M. George (politician), political leader and founder of Kerala Congress
* K. M. George (writer), Malayalam writer, scholar and literary critic
* Kayalakakam M. George, banker and former CEO of Palai Central Ban ...
considers it as an intended
anti-novel which ended up only as an experiment difficult to read or comprehend.
Translation
''Maranottar'' has been translated into
French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
as ''Temoignage Posthume'' by Sheela Karki and published in 2017.
References
External links
*
Maranottarat Ekatra Foundation
{{Authority control
Works by Suresh Joshi
Gujarati-language novels
Novels set in the 20th century
1973 Indian novels
First-person narrative novels