13th Congress of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research

Presentation Abstracts

PATTANAIK, Kailash

Oral and Written Study of a New Genre of Oriya Short Story

Although they are very much related to each other - as for example when written literature takes inspiration from traditional oral stories - the relationship between oral and written literature is quite peculiar.

This is an established fact as far as Oriya literature is concerned. Oriya is the language spoken by the people of Orissa, the Eastern-coast province of India. Taking oral narrative as a source of inspiration, some contemporary Oriya storywriters are creating a new kind of literature where the source elements of the oral narrative are interpreted from a contemporary socio-cultural-psychological point of view. In this transition the elements from Oriya narrative do not degrade its value or importance; instead it is bestowed with a higher and more meaningful, sometimes symbolic, value that proves more appropriate and more reasonable in the background of changing time. The storywriter interprets and establishes the elements from folk narrative in such a way that helps to change the unruly, morally degraded and unsocial life style of present society. The writers try to make readers aware of traditional values, human relationships etc.

These new stories cannot be termed dialectical or educational; they are as introspective and interesting as the source and the presence of the source can be traced to certain extent.

There are some other kinds of stories in Oriya that are not directly linked to oral narrative, but the foreground of the story certainly gives the hint of oral narrative at the level of theme, character and sometimes in its narrative style. This paper will focus on new developments in Oriya literature where oral traditions have taken on a new and much welcomed form.