REFLECTION OF URBAN AND RURAL LIFE IN MODERN ASSAMESE NOVEL WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO Jibonor Batot.

Abstract

The origin of modern Assamese novel dates back to the first half of the Twentieth 
century. Though the practice of Assamese novel writing started under the influence of European 
novels of the late Nineteenth century, over the years it attained its own flavor and established itself 
as one of the prominent literary genres that reflected on various socio-political events of that 
period. Massive transformation was underway with rapid urbanization at the behest of the British 
administration and emergence of a new aristocratic class in Assam left an indelible impact on the 
social landscape. Conflicts of value system in terms of urban and rural society was starkly visible 
as market economy of urban settings completely transformed the society posing threat to the 
traditional value system of rural based agrarian economy. Assamese novelists of that period 
responded to this transformation through their literary representation by portrayal of their lived 
reality with an agenda of putting a resistance to the ongoing change that did not go well with the 
traditional value system of Assamese society. The contemporary novelists of that period also 
responded to the escalating tension over identity issue and impact of the ongoing nationalist 
revolution on Assam. Bina Baruah’s novel Jibonor Batot, published in 1944, is one of the 
prominent Assamese novels that were instrumental in giving Assamese novel writing a new 
direction by focusing on such contemporary issues. This paper attempts to examine the 
representation of the Assamese society of the first half of Twentieth century with special focus on 
the conflicting value system of rural and urban Assam. 

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