And the Wretched - Sahoo, Narayan

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Résumé :
The playwright Narayan Sahoo brilliantly knocks on society's door to glance over the agonies and suffering the dominated class is experiencing daily through his O Saba Sesha Loka. This has been translated from Odia into English as And the Wretched. Here, he focuses on how people experiencing poverty suffer unendingly and their voice is unheard diachronically. Moving across the axes of Time and Space, the picture remains almost the same, though the illustrations he has stated are of this Indian Peninsula. The powerless and the voiceless raise their voices against the powerful and dominant classes for approving their natural rights. The writer advocates the mantra (dictum), as prescribed in the dialogue of Great Man, can be simplified that nothing is possible through negotiation so far. The alternative to this is revolution, the means of ascertaining one's rights and individuality. He painstakingly cites Ekalavya's case from the Mahabharat, the historical case of the Sun Temple of Odisha and the contemporary society wherein we are all the subjects successfully. He has undoubtedly justified the title of his play. Let's look at the vignettes he has snapped in his creative oeuvre for the wider readership.

Biographie:
Born in 1955 at Aradasahi village, Bagada Panchayat of Kendrapada district, Odisha, Prof. (Dr.) Narayan Sahoo is a successful playwright, scriptwriter, and critic. Before he retired from Utkal University as a professor, he worked as an Emeritus Professor there for two years. Subsequently, he also received a Senior Fellowship from the Ministry of Culture for theatre for two years. He received an award from Odisha Sahitya Akademi for his outstanding play Ashra Khoji Buluthiba Ishwara (Bewildered God) in 1991 and Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi for 2014. To his credit, he has written over forty plays and fifty 'One-Act-based' plays. He has written six collections of Odia plays for children (Infant Play). Some of his notable and widely-discussed dramas are Ashra Khoji Buluthiba Ishwara, O Saba Sesha Loka, Punascha Sangram, Muuka, Aparahnar Abasosa, Anagata, Sesha Katha, Chhata, Upasana, Kranti, Nishidha Samlapa, Adhadekha Swapna, Prayaschitta, Dura Akashara Tara, Prashna, December 25 etc. The play Rajarani Upakhyana is based on the lifestyles and issues of 'Third Gender'. He is active in radio, television, theatre, and cinema. The play Chhata is very realistic and deals with the lifestyle of the contemporary world and how they are struggling during the epidemic of Carona in 2019. Through these plays, he tries his best to hint at and point out the endless hopes and apprehensions of the modern man. He hopes the book will reach a larger audience within a short period.