Dream Vs Realities of Life in Rana Dasgupta's Solo

Abstract

The novel Solo, written by Rana Dasgupta, tells the story of a 100-year-old Bulgarian man Ulrich. He, the central character, bears the theme of alienation and estrangement in his present day. The old man is conditioned by frightening history of a devastated communist country Bulgaria and he is living a life being alienated. Blind man at this old age, he has no companion, friends or family. He just memorises his past and helps himself for the existence in the present. Amidst the daydreams he forsees his youth and in realities he is destined to survive in the present. Ulrich finds the essence of his life in daydreaming and bringing back memories from the past. This thesis tries to study why the protagonist gets engaged too much with the residue of his past? What essence does he see in memorizing those bygone days? The research hypothesises that the protagonist is seeking his identity, essence and existence from his youth through adulthood to the old, solitary, haunting and troublesome moments of hundred years. In essence, Ulrich is in the pursuit of his own 'pure' life in the larger landscape of life which was socially, politically and culturally troubled. The research concludes that the old man, Ulrich, lives amidst his daydreams and reality. When his daydreams of bygone years cannot be fulfilled he has to live a devastating life in loneliness. To avoid that loneliness he uses the past memories, fantasising daydreaming and narrating the past. Thus, the narration becomes the best platform for him to create his existence which psychologically fulfills the gap between dream and reality.