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ISSN Approved Journal No: 2456-3315 | Impact factor: 8.14 | ESTD Year: 2016
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| Paper Title: | Beyond the Bhadralok Imagination: Kiriti Roy, Mnemonic Failure, and Cultural Erasure in Bengali Detective Fiction |
| Authors Name: | Sanchita Dutta |
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| Author Reg. ID: |
IJRTI_213159
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| Published Paper Id: | IJRTI2606017 |
| Published In: | Volume 11 Issue 6, June-2026 |
| DOI: | |
| Abstract: | The historiography of Bengali detective fiction cannot be fully understood without considering the trio of Byomkesh Bakshi, Felu Da, and Kiriti Roy, yet the latter has largely vanished from Bengal’s cultural imagination despite his initial popularity. While Byomkesh and Felu achieved enduring status as intergenerational icons, Kiriti’s Eurocentric stylisation and detachment from cultural and political stakes prevented him from being inscribed into the long-term memory of the bhadralok. This study employs Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of habitus and Paul Connerton’s theories of cultural memory to examine why some detectives become cultural fixtures while others fade. Byomkesh embodied the rational, morally sensitive bhadralok whose nationalist sympathies reflected colonial Bengal’s anxieties, and Felu Da balanced cosmopolitan modernity with an insistence on defending India’s cultural heritage, both generating symbolic capital that resonated with the middle class and was ritualised through adaptations in literature, film, and television. Kiriti, however, remained an imported figure, defined by props such as the pipe and overcoat rather than by any enduring cultural anchor. Close readings of Raktamukhi Neela, Reshmi Phaansh, and Bottirish Singhasan illustrate this difference: while Byomkesh and Felu are remembered through moral positioning, iconic gestures, and cultural pride, Kiriti’s silence on nationalism and heritage rendered him a gentleman sleuth without the mnemonic triggers necessary to secure his place in collective memory. As Connerton suggests, forgetting emerges when tradition and locality are severed, and Kiriti epitomises this disjunction; in Proustian terms, his figure left behind no involuntary memory to recall him to readers across generations. Thus, Kiriti Roy was never entirely forgotten because he was never fully remembered, and his trajectory reveals the paradox of a detective once popular yet absent from posterity, emphasising the cultural politics of memory, forgetting, and symbolic capital in shaping literary legacies. |
| Keywords: | Bhadralok, Detective, Habitus, Madeline, Memory, Culture. |
| Cite Article: | "Beyond the Bhadralok Imagination: Kiriti Roy, Mnemonic Failure, and Cultural Erasure in Bengali Detective Fiction", International Journal for Research Trends and Innovation (www.ijrti.org), ISSN:2456-3315, Vol.11, Issue 6, page no.a143-a146, June-2026, Available :http://www.ijrti.org/papers/IJRTI2606017.pdf |
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| ISSN: |
2456-3315 | IMPACT FACTOR: 8.14 Calculated By Google Scholar| ESTD YEAR: 2016 An International Scholarly Open Access Journal, Peer-Reviewed, Refereed Journal Impact Factor 8.14 Calculate by Google Scholar and Semantic Scholar | AI-Powered Research Tool, Multidisciplinary, Monthly, Multilanguage Journal Indexing in All Major Database & Metadata, Citation Generator |
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Published Paper ID: IJRTI2606017
Registration ID:213159
Published In: Volume 11 Issue 6, June-2026
DOI (Digital Object Identifier):
Page No: a143-a146 Country: Kolkata, West Bengal, India Research Area: Social Science and Humanities Publisher : IJ Publication Published Paper URL : https://www.ijrti.org/viewpaperforall?paper=IJRTI2606017 Published Paper PDF: https://www.ijrti.org/papers/IJRTI2606017 |
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ISSN: 2456-3315
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