Ecocriticism and its Representation: A Study of Bhabani Bhattacharya’s Novel, So Many Hungers

Abstract

Bhabani Bhattacharya is one of the key writers of the 19th century. Being born in India, he delineates his love and concern for his country. His first published novel titled as So Many Hungers deal with the aspect of man and society, self and individual, nature and its resources. The novel stages the trajectory of Bengal famine and its aftermath. The storyline moves around the implicit details of socio political affinity through the casts of characters and incidents. The prime object of this paper is to analyse So Many Hungers from the perspective of an ecocritical endeavour. This paper aims to demonstrate the varied skill and wisdom of man in reliving with the macrocosm of nature. Here nature acts as a force that triggers the potential of a person. Further, it acts as a source of inspiration
for man specifically during and after the outbreak of famine. Though the famine appears to be a manmade one yet the consequences are the same. The local valour and aspiration are of utmost concern for Bhattacharya. The understanding of nature in such a crisis is a sort of a construct for him. He thus redefines it with a new vista of experience.