2 thoughts on “2020 Virtual Conference: Sumantra Baral

  1. Hi Sumantra! I am also interested in the use of humor (particularly satire) in nineteenth-century texts, and I had a lot of fun reading your work!

    I was wondering about your opinion of the use of humor in nineteenth-century literary realism. You write, “Humour was important as without it the text would have become a specimen of the history book collecting facts, describing incidents and making progress.”

    Do you see satire, irony, etc. as a tools that serve realism in _Hutom_ or do they work to challenge the text’s genre (maybe “diluting” its realism, so to speak)?

    Also, since you are interested in the act of history-writing, if you haven’t checked out Hayden White’s work on Metahistory, it could be helpful!

    Thank you for sharing!

    1. Hi Sumantra, the emergence of a new caste of Babu in the context of a radically shifting social hierarchy, and their creation of a distinct literary form, is a very interesting tale. Please keep me apprised of the progress of your research. I will very much like to share it with my students one day.

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