Cracow Indological Studies (Dec 2015)
The Ivan Denisovich of Delhi—an Indian Story of Survival?
Abstract
The paper looks at a short-story by modern Indian writer Uday Prakash: unfolding at the onset of 1985, it describes a few hours from the life of a poor proof-reader who struggles for survival in Delhi’s Ber Sarai district. Apart from the obvious deliberate connection the author builds between his character and the famous hero of Solzhenitsin’s story, in Uday Prakash’s prose, one can discover other, more subtle literary bridges linking Hindi and Russian literature. Thus, some features of Uday Prakash’s characters point out at the similarities between the typical heroes of his prose and the so-called malenkij čelovek or “little man”—one of the keyconcepts originating from classical Russian literature.
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