The Narrative Art of Saadat Hasan Manto
N.S. Tasneem
David Lodge in his New
Modes of Writing takes up the Jakobsonian framework, elaborates upon it,
and shows that the traditional fiction is metonymic and the modernist fiction
is metaphoric. Saadat Hasan Manto’s mode of narration is at times realistic and
metonymic whereas at some other times he adopts the metaphoric mode of
narration. His choice mostly depends on the subject matter of his short
stories. In fact he chooses the metonymic mode when he aims at depicting the
outer reality. When he seeks the inner reality he takes recourse to modernist/metaphoric
mode.
The subject matter of Manto’s stories reminds the reader
of the stories of Guy de Maupassant. But there is an obvious difference in
their approach. Maupassant is gleeful while depicting the idiosyncrasies of his
characters and at times he makes fun of ethical concepts. Manto, on the other
hand, is concerned with the inherent goodness of the so-called fallen people in
the contemporary society. In the process he too treads on the moral corns of
the bourgeoisie. Admittedly, both of them are not moralists in the strict sense
of the term. Still, in my opinion, Manto is not with Maupassant but with D.H.
Lawrence.
Like Lawrence, Manto wants to comprehend the reality of
life by removing the masks from the faces of the people around him. Again, like
Lawrence, Manto is an omniscient narrator but his style makes him a modernist.
In his lifetime, Manto was content to be called a writer of new fiction (Naya Adab) or modern fiction (Jadeed Adab). Initially he identified
himself with the progressives but later he drifted away from them. He had
abhorrence for anything contrived or constructed with an ulterior motive. He
was a true artist who loved life in totality. He could not overlook the seamy
side of life; rather he revelled in its depiction.
Manto was a born storyteller but he never devised ways
and means to project his viewpoint. He was not only seized with a particular
aspect of life but was also obsessed with it. In such a state of mind he
produced works of art but without straining his nerves about their forms. In
reality he was an unconscious artist. As a result he created superb as well as
drab stories without being conscious of this fact. In some of his stories like “Tutu”
and “Janki” his first person narration and authorial comments produce a jarring
note. He attains the stature of a modern storyteller when his narration moves
from metonymic to metaphoric, from statement to suggestion.
Manto has the conviction that a story has a beginning, a
middle and an end. But in actual practice he begins his stories at random, does
not bother to adopt the flashback technique, never strives to pinpoint the
middle and is most unpredictable about the end. His stories invariably move in
a chronological order and the endings are either abrupt as in “Dhuan” (The
Smoke), or shocking as in “Khol Do”(Open it), or unexpected as in “Kali Salwar”
(The Black Trouser). At times he gives a purposeful jolt to the reader’s mind
as in “Toba Tek Singh” and “Sau Candle Power ka Bulb” (A bulb of hundred
watts). Whatever may be the case, the endings are never contrived. They no
doubt at times appear to be at variance with his mode of straight-forward
narration. All the same they represent the nucleus of his stories and have
nothing to do with O’ Henry’s twist-in-the-tail mode of narration. -- Re-Markings Vol 15 No. 1 March 2016.
Note: For complete paper contact the Chief Editor, Re-Markings : ghoshnk@hotmail.com
Professor
N.S. Tasneem is the recipient of many prestigious awards:
Shiromani Sahityakar Puraskar (1995), Sahitya Akademi Award (1999), and the
Punjabi Sahitya Ratan Award by the Languages Department, Punjab Government.
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