One way to
start with the introduction of Saul Bellow and J.M Coetzee is by highlighting that both won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1976 and 2003. The main
reason for bringing both the writers together is Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali:
the work which interconnects the world of their protagonist Herzog and a
young man’s escape from the stifling surroundings.
Published
in 1964, Herzog (depicts the mid-life crisis of the titular Herzog Moses. Herzog’s
world is falling apart. His wife has left him for his best friend. Wondering on
how to move on with his life and intent on murdering his ex-wife, respite and
healing are a far cry for him until he stumbled on Pather Panchali directed by
Satyajit Ray in NewYork’s Fifth Avenue. Already plagued by despair, his grief
multiplies as his childhood struggle comes to the fore. The harsh condition of
a Bengali village is unmissed.
Released
more than 60 years ago, Pather Panchali is the debut work of Satyajit Ray.
Based on the novel of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhayay, Apu and Durga are immortal
and remind us of the pristine glory of Indian cinema. Even J.M Coetzee’s Youth
mentions Rey’s ’Apu Trilogy.’ Similarly, The Simpsons has a character named Apu
Nahasapeemapetilon after Ray’s Apu. Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of
Stories has characters Goopy and Bagha through which he has paid tribute to
Ray.
The running theme in both novels is a broken childhood. The loss of innocence gets accentuated when one is already going through a hard time. The death of the young girl in rain moved Herzog to write a letter to Vinoba Bhave. Navigating the labyrinth, the narrator in Coetzee’s Youth lives a mechanized life in his inability to become a poet in London or find a woman of his dreams. Here, boyhood is juxtaposed with Herzog’s mid-life crisis but alienation remains the same regardless of the number.