Blurring the Boundaries between Rationality and Madness in Dhurba Chandra Gautam's Agnidatta+Agnidatta

Abstract

Madness, as the literary tool, has unprecedently provided the epistemological space to delve across the multidisciplinary spheres of knowledge. Especially, madness in work of art would create such a ground where one can move like Foucault's madmen in the ocean without a priori set destination. Dhurba Chandra Gautam's Agnidatta+Agnidatta is one of the prolific works in the Nepali literature where he has demolished the disciplinary boundaries by using farcical motif and allegorical symbols. This research assumes that the complexity in the mind of normal permeated from the madmen's irrational demeanors is not to stigmatize the mental problem instead such complexity ushers the way to tremendous wisdom in terms of both physiological and conceptual level. The foundational concept ever invented in whole human civilization is the concept of rationality which still dominates the discourse in philosophy. Rationality, primarily the dispassionate contract between code of conduct of society and self-preservation, has been antithetically established against madness which would and is banished from the society. This research aims to show the blurred gap between rationality and madness entering into Dhurba Chandra Gautam's Agnidatta+Agnidatta to experiment with the theoretical baking from Foucault. The deductive and inductive both method of generalization have been used to prove Gautam's narration as the 'abnormal' narration and to bring the conclusion that madness as the benevolent but esoteric tool of generating fiction and non-fiction.