By: Rupak G. Duarah
‘Campus novel’ is considered a literary genre among fiction. It is also known as an ‘academic novel’. David Lodge, one of the most popular writers of the such genre in England said, ‘‘Campus novel’ is a term used to designate a work of fiction whose action takes place mainly in a college or university and is mainly concerned with the lives of University professors and junior teachers-faculty… and to a lesser extent with their students both undergraduate and postgraduate”. The first campus novel ‘The Groves of Academe’ was written by American writer and critic Mary McCartney and was published in 1952. Some other popular novelists of European countries were C.P. Snow (The Masters), Kingsley Amis (Lucky Jim), Malcolm Bradbury (The History Man), Bernard Malamud (A New Life), etc. who achieved wide popularity through their campus novels.
Indian literature is also rich in campus novels. Especially, Chetan Bhagat’s ‘Five Point Someone is one of the most popular novels of such genre. The Bollywood and the South filmmakers were very much influenced by the story of this novel and made two blockbuster films ‘3 Idiots’ in Hindi and ‘Nanban’ in Tamil. Some other famous Indian English novelists of the such genre are R.K. Narayan (The Bachelor of Arts & The English Teacher), Sudhin N Ghosh (The Vermillion Boat & The Flame of Forest) Prema Nandakumar (Atom and the Serpent: A Novel of Campus Life in India Today), Anurag Mathur (The Inscrutable Americans), Ranga Rao (The Drunk Tantra), PM Nithyanandan (The Long Long Days), Anita Desai (In Custody), Rama Sarmah (The Farewell Party), etc.
In the Assamese language, ‘Cotton College’ is the first campus novel written by Nabin Baruah, one of the popular novelists of Assam, and published in the special Bihu edition of ‘Neelachal’ in 1969. Later on, Bangshidhar Sharma of ‘Guwahati Book Stall’ published the novel in the book format in the year 1970 and the novel became popular within a short period. Some other popular campus novels in the Assamese language are ‘Seemanta’ (Hiranya Kashyap), ‘Naharar Niribili Cha (Anuradha Sarma Pujari), ‘Cotton Collegar Hajar Sandhya & ‘Handique College’ (Pranab Kumar Barman), ‘B. Barooah College’ (Dinesh Boishya), Dibrugarh Biswabidyalayar Nandini’ (Juri Borah Borgohain), ‘Hridayot Krishnasura (Dhrubajyoti Sarma), ‘Hriday Ekhan Mahakabya’ (Kishor Manjit Bora), ‘Dibrugarh Biswabidyalayar Krishnasurar Rang’ (Biswajyoti Sarma), ‘Medical College’ (Pranab Kumar Sharma), ‘Moi Cottonian Asilu’ (Sunita Shankakati), ‘Engineering College’ (Abhijit Sharma Boruah), ‘Cottonian Ekhon Rodor Khiriki’ (Archana Borthakur), ‘Princess of the City: Handique College’ (Purabi Bora), ‘Dibaruwe Ringiyai’ (Sujata Gohain Boruah), etc.
Recently, Dugdha Chandra Goswami, a famous writer cum educationist of Golaghat published a campus novel entitled ‘Hello! B.Ed. Collegor Pora Koisu’. The story of the novel is based on the Teachers Training College of Golaghat where the writer was also a trainee during the session 2018-20. He elaborates on his experiences in the novel achieved in college during his training period. The two main characters of the novel are Raktim and Ruptrishna who met each other for the first time in college when they came to study there. Later on, their friendship turned into love, and finally, they decided to marry. Their friendship, love, romance, cultural activities, hostel life, relationship with teachers, the environment of the college, the experience of the classes, etc. are expressed in a unique style of writing in the novel.
The ‘Hello! B.Ed. Collegor Pora Koisu’ is one of the finest campus novels in the Assamese language, which may surely satisfy discerning readers as well as students. The cover design by Garga Narayan Hazarika is attractive and meaningful and the layout of the book is also praiseworthy. The book is published by Purbayan Prakashan, Guwahati, and is priced at only INR 250.
