Premchand: A Historiographic View

The work of Premchand is marked by a profound paradox. The clarity of his perception of the wretched lot of the Indian poorspecifically the kisans, contrasts with the lack of clarity in his prescription of the remedy for these iniquities. The portrayal of the conditions of the poor and the vague prescriptions for their amelioration in his early work are succeeded in his later writings by a realisation that to portray these conditions is itself to prescribe a remedy. Having, as a creative writer, portrayed reality, Premchand as the nationalist political commentator close to the Congress. though never of it, felt (especially in his journalistic writings) that he had to take into account, in suggesting remedies, the possible and the pragmatic which nay not always be the just. The revolutionary implications of his creative writings are thus tempered by an unwillingness to accept the upheaval and violence that any attempt to change the system would necessarily entail This paper traces some of these contradictory Pulls in Premchand's writings and suggests possible explanations for them.