Accomplishments
TRACING FINAL FRONTIERS OF INDIAN SPECULATIVE FICTION IN SATYAJIT RAY’S ‘PROFESSOR SHONKU’
- Abstract
-
PDF Full Text
The journey of a protagonist has always been an important motif across various genres of literature. Speculative Fiction, a term coined by famous American author Robert Heinlein, houses several genres like science fiction, fantasy, horror and detective. It often deals with plots that are sketched on the background of a place or world that are non-existent in the real world. It could be an undiscovered planet, a civilization underwater, a society embedded in deep space, a distant galaxy, or altogether in a different dimension. C.S. Lewis’ fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia is set in the world of Narnia; Tolkien built Middle Earth; and Rowling conjured an amalgamation of the wizarding world and muggle world. The trilogy of Dune by Frank Herbert is set on the barren planet Arrakis, while Isaac Asimov’s Foundation is set against the backdrop of the Galactic Empire. Satyajit Ray, an acclaimed Indian film director and author, penned several works of speculative fiction in Bangla, where Professor Shonku, the protagonist, embarks upon thrilling quests across various places in Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe. Professor Shonku also visits some places that cannot be traced in the real world. This current paper aims to trace the final frontiers, i.e., unknown and unchartered territories of Indian Speculative Fiction in Satyajit Ray’s seven stories about Professor Shonku, where the central character embarks across space and time, beneath the ocean, to different planets, and to some of the cla