The Nature and Purpose of Literature

Author(s): PREMCHAND
Source: Indian Literature , November-December, 1986, Vol. 29, No. 6 (116) (November-
December, 1986), pp. 184-191
Published by: Sahitya Akademi

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24159090

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 Document

The Nature and Purpose of

Literature

PREMCHAND

The following is an English translation of the Presidential

Address by Premchand, delivered at the First All-India
Progressive Writers' Conference, held at Lucknow on
10 April 1936.—Ed.

THIS conference
literature. is a memorable
Hitherto occasion
we had been in the
content tohistory
discuss of our
langu
age and its problems. The existing critical literature of Urdu
and Hindi has dealt with the construction and the structure of
the language alone. This was doubtless an important and neces
sary work. And the pioneers of our literature have supplied
this preliminary need and performed their task admirably. But
language is a means, not an end; a stage, not the destination. Its
purpose is to mould our thoughts and emotions and give them
the right direction. We have now to concern ourselves with the
meaning of things, and to find the means of fulfilling the purpose
for which language has been constructed. This is the main pur
pose of this conference.
Literature properly so-called is not only realistic, true to
life, but is also an expression of our experiences and of the life
that surrounds us. It employs easy and refined language which

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 PREMCHAND ON LITERATURE

Premchand

affects our intellect and our sentiments alike. Literature assu

mes these qualities only when it deals with the realities and ex
periences of life. Fairy tales and romantic stories of princes and
princesses might have impressed us in olden days, but they mean
very little to us today. Unless literature deals with reality, it has
no appeal for us.
Literature can be best defined as a criticism of life. The
literature of our immediate past had nothing to do with actuality.
Our writers were living in a world of dreams and were writing
things like Fasanai Ajaib or Chandrakanta tales told only for
entertainment, or to satisfy our sense of wonder. Life and litera
ture were considered to be two different things which bore no

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 INDIAN LITERATURE

relation to each other. Literature reflects the age. In the past

days of decadence, the main function of literature was to enter
tain the parasitic class. In this literature, the dominant notes
were either sex or mysticism, pessimism or fatalism. It was de
void of vigour, originality, and even the power of observation.
But our literary taste is undergoing rapid transformation. It
is coming more and more in grip with the realities of life. It
interests itself with society or man as a social unit. It is not
satisfied now with the singing of frustrated love, or with writing
to satisfy only our sense of wonder. It concerns itself with the
problems of our life, and such themes as have a social value. The
literature which does not arouse in us a critical spirit, or satisfy
our spiritual and intellectual needs, which is not force-giving,
dynamic, which does not awaken our sense of beauty, which
does not make us face the grim realities of life in a spirit of
determination, has no use for us today. It cannot even be term
ed as literature.

In the past, religion had taken upon itself the task of striving
after man's spiritual and moral guidance; it used fear and cajo
lery, reward and retribution as its chief instruments in this work.
Today, however, literature has undertaken a new task, and its
instrument is our inherent sense of beauty; it tries to achieve its
aim by arousing this sense of beauty in us. The more a writer
develops this sense through his observation of nature, the more
effective will his writing become. All that is ugly or detestable,
all that is inhuman, becomes intolerable to such a writer. He
becomes the standard-bearer of humanity, of moral upright
ness, of nobility. It becomes his duty to help all those who
are downtrodden, oppressed and exploited—individuals or
groups - and to advocate their cause. And his judge is society
itself. It is before society that he brings his plaint. He knows
that the more realistic his story is, the more full of expression
and movement his picture, the more intimate his observation of
human nature and human psychology, the greater the effect he
will produce. It is not even enough that from a psychological
point of view his characters resemble human beings. We must

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 PREMCHAND ON LITERATURE

further be satisfied that they are real human beings of flesh

and bones. We do not believe in an imaginary man. His acts and
his thoughts do not impress us.
The question may be asked, "But what is beauty? Why does
a waterfall, the sunset, and other natural scenes and phenomena
affect us?" Because, there is a certain harmony of colour or sound
in them. We ourselves are created by a harmony of elements,
and our spirit always seeks the same balance and harmony in
everything else. It is the harmony which creates beauty. Nature
demands that this harmony should exist everywhere, and the
more art keeps in touch with nature and with reality, the better
it will be.
In this sense, the name 'Progressive Writer' is defective. An
artist or a writer is by his very nature progressive.
But perhaps it is necessary to use this qualifying word
because progress has different meanings for different people.
For us progressive is that which creates in us the power to act;
which makes us examine those subjective and objective causes
that have brought us to such a pass of sterility and degenera
tion; and finally which helps us to overcome and remove those
causes and make us men once again. We have no use today for
those poetical fancies which overwhelm us with their insistence
on the ephemeral nature of this world and whose only effect is
to fill our hearts with despondency and indifference. We must,
resolutely, give up writing those love romances with which our
periodicals are flooded. We have no time to waste over senti
mental art. The only art which has value for us today is that
which is dynamic and leads to action.
According to us, subjective art is that which drags us down
to inaction and passivity; and such an art is good neither for
the individual nor for the society. I have no hesitation in saying
that I judge art from the point of view of its utility. Undoub
tedly, the aim of art is to satisfy our sense of beauty; and it is
the key to our spiritual happiness. But happiness itself is a thing
of 'utility'. The same object from this point of view may stir in
us feelings of joy or sorrow.

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 INDIAN LITERATURE

But Beauty like everything else is not absolute; it too has

relative value. The same thing which gives happiness to o
causes pain to another. A rich man sitting in his beautif
garden and listening to the song of birds thinks of paradise; t
poor but intelligent human being who regards this pomp
wealth as being tainted with the blood of workers, it is the most
hateful thing.
Brotherhood and equality, from the dawn of human culture
and civilization, have been the golden dream of idealists. Reli
gious leaders have made repeated attempts to realize their dream
by creating religious, moral and spiritual sanctions. But they
have not succeeded. Buddha, Christ, Mohammed—all the pro
phets tried without success to lay the foundation of equa
lity on moral precepts without any success. Today the distinc
tion between high and low, rich and poor, is manifesting itself
with a brutality which has never been surpassed before. There
is a saying amongst us that to try that which has already been
tried is a sign of stupidity. We shall fail again if we attempt to
attain our goal with the help of religion or ethics.
Are we then to give up our ideals? If that were so, the
human race might as well perish. The ideal which we have
cherished since the dawn of civilization; for which man has
made, God knows, how many sacrifices; which gave birth to reli
gion (the history of human society is a history of the struggle for
the fulfilment of this ideal), we too have to place that ideal
before ourselves. We have to accept it as an unalterable reality
and then see the vulgar pride, ostentation and lack of sensibility
in the one, the strength of modesty, faith and endeavour in the
other. And our art will notice these things only when our
artistic vision takes the entire universe within its purview, when
the entire humanity will form its subject matter. Then it will
no longer be tied to the apron-strings of a particular class. We
shall then no longer tolerate a social system under which a
single individual can tyrannize over thousands of human beings.
Then our self-respecting humanity will raise the standard of
revolt against capitalism, militarism and imperialism; and we

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 PREMCHAND ON LITERATURE

shall not sit quiet and inane after doing a little bit of creative
work on pieces of paper; but we shall actively participate in
building that new order which is not opposed to beauty, good
taste and self-respect. The role of literature is not simply to
provide us with amusement, or recreation; it does not follow,
but is, on the contrary, a torch-bearer to all the progressive
movements in society.
We sometimes complain that literary men are not given an
honourable place in society, that is to say, in Indian society.
In other civilized countries, literary men are placed very high on
the ladder of social esteem. The highest placed people in the land
consider it an honor to meet and know these men. But, then,
India is still in many ways living in medieval conditions. If our
writers have played the sycophant to the rich to earn their liveli
hood by flattery, if they are unaware of the dynamic forces work
ing in modern society, if they choose to shut themselves up in
ivory towers, completely oblivious of their surroundings, it is not
surprising that they find themselves as a class more and more
discarded by society. It is true that writers are born and not
made, but we would not forget that rigorous intellectual, moral,
spiritual and emotional discipline which Aristotle has prescribed
for them. With us, a simple inclination to write is considered
sufficient reason for a man to take to the profession of writing.
He need not equip himself for it, he need have no knowledge of
politics or economics or psychology; and still he will be a writer.
This should not be so, for it is a sign of stagnation.
The ideal which we want to put before literature today is
not that of subjectivism or individualism, for literature does not
see the individual as something apart from society, but consi
ders him as a social unit, because his existence is dependent on
the society as a whole. Taken apart from society he is a mere
cypher and non-entity. It follows, therefore, that those of us who
have the good fortune to be educated and who have been endo
wed with a trained intellect have certain obligations towards
society. Just as we consider the capitalist to be an usurper and an
oppressor, because he lives on the labour of others, in the same
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 INDIAN LITERATURE

way we should strongly condemn the 'intellectual capitalist', who,

after having received the best education, uses it for his own pri
vate ends. It is the duty of our intellectuals to serve society in
every possible way. They should acquire not only the art of
writing well, but should also acquaint themselves with the general
condition of society. If we read the reports of International
Writers' Conferences, we find that there is hardly any subject
concerning life, literature, economic problems, historical con
troversies, philosophy which is not discussed there. When we
compare ourselves with these people, we really feel ashamed of
our ignorance. We must, therefore, raise the cultural level of our
writers. I know it is difficult under the present economic system.
But let us at least strive after this. If we do not reach the top of
the mountain, we shall at least raise ourselves from the surface of
the earth to a higher plane. With love to guide our activities and
with service of humanity as the outward manifestation of this
love, there is no difficulty which we cannot overcome. For those
who are after wealth and riches there is no place in the temple
of love. If we place our services at the disposal of the masses
of this country, we shall have done our duty. The happiness
which we get from serving humanity will be our reward. We
stand or fall with society and as true artists we should disdain
self-advancement and cheap exhibitionism.
Such are the objects which have led to the formation of the
Indian Progressive Writers' Association. It wants literature to
bear the message of effort and action. It is not concernedwith prob
lems of language as such. With a correct ideology, language will
become simpler and better. So long as the content of our writing is
on the right lines, we need not worry about the form. The litera
ture which is patronized by the privileged classes will adopt their
forms of expression; the literature which is of the masses will
speak their language. Our object is to create such an atmosphere
in this country as would help the growth of progressive literature.
We want to establish branches of our Association in all the lite
rary centres of India; we want to organise creative literary life in
those centres, by reading papers, by discussions and by criticism.

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 PREMCHAND ON LITERATURE

It is in this way that our literary renaissance will take place. We

want a branch of the Association in every province and in every
linguistic zone so that we can carry our message to all parts of
the country. For sometime past, Indian writers have been fee
ing the necessity for such an organisation. At various places,
some steps have already been taken in this direction. Our object
is to help all such progressive tendencies in our literary world. We
writers suffer from one great defect, and that is the absence of
action in our lives. It is a bitter reality; we cannot shut our eyes
to it. Indeed, this absence of an active life was considered to be
a virtue by our writers, for it was agreed an active life leads to
intolerance and narrow-mindedness. A puritan, enforcing his
doctrine on others, is certainly a greater nuisance than a libertine.
The latter may save himself whereas there is no hope for an
arrogant puritan. So long as the object of literature was mere
entertainment, so long as it was a means of escape from life,
when it demanded a mere shedding of tears over life and its
sorrows, an active participation in the social struggles was not
required from a literary man. We, however, have a different
conception of literature and the duties of a writer. We shall
consider only that literature as progressive which is thoughtful,
which awakens in us the spirit of freedom and of beauty, which
is creative, which is luminous with the realities of life, which
moves us, which leads us to action and which does not act on us
as a narcotic, which does not produce in us a state of intellectual
somnolence. For, if we continue to remain in that state it can
only mean that we are no longer alive,

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