Mahesh Paudyal

Without being burdened by the imperatives  of defining categories—as those related with ‘postmodernism’ are terms overwrought by discussions across the academia all the world over and are conceptually indefinable—this paper claims that there is no overtly visible and identifiable symptom in Nepali literature that is strictly postmodern, though in painting, music, films and fashion, one could probably make a tally of things, both structurally and thematically, and make a table of the postmodern. Postmodern is not something that conforms to strict bracketable traits; rather, it encompasses many things at once, and therefore, is plural. There are many postmodernisms, and different authorities of the theoretical conundrum position themselves on different ends of the same thing, sometimes even to the degree that they contradict one another, and nullify the whole attempt to define. In fact, postmodernism sprang from the debates about finalities, and sought to jeopardize any attempt...

Courtesy: www.kreativenepa.com S ulbung was a challenge to demographers. They could neither call it a village, nor a suburb, but it shared characters of both. It was a village, almost like a hinterland, because modernity at the level of thought was still a far cry. It was a suburb because an un-laminated road connected it with the main town—Ilam Bazaar—and occasionally, four-wheelers, carrying passengers, would run pass the village. It had a health-post, a high school, a post office and of course all small offices that made up the list of ‘modern’ civic amenities. Yet, Sulbung lacked many, many things. The Pradhans and the Barals, two families standing as primordial antitheses of one another, were still not in good terms.  The women Naini and Sukhani—hide-and-seek mates since childhood days—were their respective mistresses. The childhood intimacy had flown down the River Mai; one could not stand to see the other even with the broken eye at present. Naini had the privileg...

महेश पौड्याल पोखरा काव्य महोत्सव २०७१ की प्रमुख योजनाकार कवि सरस्वती प्रतीक्षाले प्रस्तावनामै भनिन्, “कविताको पनि शल्यक्रिया गरिनुपर्छ र लागेको रोग देखाइदिनुपर्छ ।” हुन पनि त्यस्तै भयो, उत्सवको दोस्रो दिनको परिचर्चामा । “नेपाली कविता ः हिजो र आज” विषयक सत्रमा होस् वा “कविताको रचना प्रक्रिया” विषयक बहसमा, नेपाली कवितामाथि गम्भीर रुपले बहस हुन अझै बाँकी रहेको, र नेपाली कविताको इतिहासभरि अहिलेसम्मको समालोचनाले नि¥क्यौल गर्न बाँकी धेरै विपर्यास र समस्याहरू रहेको कुरा छर्लङ्एिर आएको छ । यी बहसहरूले यो पनि झर्लङ्गाएका छन्, कि आजको युगमा नेपाली कविताको मुहार, प्रतिभावान युवा कविहरूको तुफानी उदय र जादुवी लेखनले जग्मगाएको छ । नेपाली कविताको हिजो र आजको बसहमा कवितपय प्रतिनिधि र मानक मानिएका कविहरू केवल “हिजो” को गर्भमा बाँचिरहेको प्रतीत भयो । देवकोटा–लुसुन प्रज्ञाप्रतिष्ठानले भर्खरै भारतमा सम्पन्न गरेको काव्ययात्रामा भोगिएको यर्थाथ होस्, वा पोखरा काव्य महोत्सवमा भोगिएको अनुभव होस्, दशकौंदेखि लेख्दै आएका अधिकांश कविहरू केवल कविताको “हिजो” को प्रतिनिधित्व गरिरहेका छन् र कविताको “आज” को बाग...

एक प्रस्तावना — महेश पौड्याल (गत साल धरानमा कलरबले आयोजना गरेको कविता साँघुमा प्रस्तुत कार्यपत्र हो यो) नेपाली साहित्यमा आधुकिताको प्रस्थानविन्दुबारे धेरै मतान्तरहरू छन् । तर, समालोचक लक्ष्मण गौतमको दावीअनुसार १९९२, फागुन १६ गते, (सन् १९३५ मा) गोरखापत्रमा प्रकाशित गोपालप्रसाद रिमालको कविता “कविको गान” नै सचेतरुपमा लेखिएको प्रथम आधुनिक नेपाली कविता हो (थ), यद्यपि त्यसै साल प्रकाशित रिमालकै “...प्रति” लाई यसको प्रस्थातविन्दु मान्नेको सङ्ख्या पनि धेरै छ । “कविको गान” लाई आधुनिक भन्नुपर्ने दुईवटा आधार छन् । पहिलो, यो कविताको स्वरुपमा अपरम्परित थियो, गद्य थियो । दोस्रो, यसमा आफ्नो समयको चेत थियो, र यो पूर्ण सचेतताका साथ परम्पराको व्यतिरेकमा लेखिएको थियो । यसरी हेर्दा हामीले “आधुनिक” काव्ययात्रा गरेको असी वर्ष पूरा हुनलागेको छ । आधुनिक नेपाली आख्यान र गैरआख्यानको दशा पनि यस्तै–यस्तै नै हो । आठ दशकपछि साहित्यको विश्व मानचित्रमा नेपालको उपस्थिति त्यस्तो सन्तोषजनक देखिँदैन । विश्वसाहित्यको विशाल आकशमा हामी आफ्ना लागि एक गर्विलो स्पेसको दावी गर्न सकिरहेका छैनौं । त्यसैले त थियोडोर र...

Courtesy: www.nepaliheadlines.com  When Francis Fukuyama declared the end of history in 1991, he probably did not literally mean, history was going to be an invalid discipline henceforth. He meant, gone were the eras of power-driven discourses, that often made history an account of the warring superpowers—USA and USSR in his case—and time following the collapse of USSR would belong to smaller nations, and history would have to deal with smaller power centers. To take Fukuyama further down the lane, history would now descend the ladder of power, until it comes to the level of the European ‘others’ i.e. nations whose role and presence were not considered formidable in the world history before the nineties. It was obvious during Fukuyama days, that many nations did not count much in the global politics. During the world wars—both the first and the second—some of the smaller and underdeveloped nations mattered, because they were the playgrounds for the European warmongers. Et...