TRANSGRESSING THE BOUNDARIES OF NARRATION: GIRISH KARNAD’S NAGAMANDALA-A POSTMODERN NARRATIVE

Abstract

Abstract:

In the realm of narratology, there has always been a search for finding different ways of representation and expression. With the development of the novel, in the late nineteenth century, visual aspect of narration has taken the centre stage than the narrative aspect. This approach has its roots in enlightenment tradition. The modern realist convention is based on the assumption that the external world is real, and that our senses give us a true report of it. However, this approach has its limitations, because our senses can never give us a complete depiction. The ‘real’ of our perception has inherent inadequacies. The real has more than what we perceive through our senses. Fantastic and magical realism throws wide range of possibilities of depiction. This paper explores how Girish Karnad in his play Nagamandala employs fantastic and magical realism as tools of narration and adeptly sews one into the other creating a unique fabric of representation. His narration and dramaturgy passes seamlessly from one through the other. 

Key Words: Fantastic; Magical realistic; postmodernism; modernism