A Moving Spectrum of Life: Ruskin Bond’s Ghost Stories

Abstract

In an age of science one finds it difficult to digest any fictional encounter with fairies and ghosts and, yet they do exist in the psychology of each society both in the East and in the modern West. Stories of mysterious agents figure in every literature. Ruskin Bond portrays the magic of supernatural elements in his stories. He has written fantastic tales of ghosts and spirits which evoke mass appeal. In A Season of Ghosts Bond works on an age-old question which fascinates both the young and the adult reader. He tells us that we need not believe in ghosts to see them. This book is not just a collection of ghost stories. Some of the stories are reminiscent of childhood tales replete with fairies and rakshasas. The treatment of the supernatural is unique. The agents of his supernatural who are endowed with different traits; humorous, witty, vicious and tragic present a moving spectrum of life. They are derived from myths and legends of the hills. The stories are set in the picturesque locale of the hills of north India. The twist in the ending of some of these ghostly tales surprises the reader. This paper seeks to critically examine Ruskin Bond’s craftsmanship, his thematic concerns, his art of characterization, and his vision of life in these stories. It will attempt to analyse the outcome of Bond’s experiment in theme and technique, his use of narrative devices like first-person narration, third-person narration, flashback, narration within the narration, as well as the myths, symbols, and poetic overflows which are ingeniously incorporated in these narratives.