Deautomatizing Perception the Perumal Murugan Way...!

Formalist Devices in Poonachi by Perumal Murugan

Well, before going into the nitty-gritties of it, let me just give the definitions first, for us to connect better with Poonachi.

As we all know, Defamiliarisation is the artistic technique of presenting to audiences common things in an unfamiliar or strange way in order to enhance perception of the familiar.

According to Henderson and Brown, Defamiliarisation is a term used by the Russian Formalist Viktor Shklovsky to describe the capacity of art to counter the deadening effect of habit and convention by investing the familiar with strangeness and thereby deautomatizing perception. 

Defamiliarization is not simply a question of perception; it is the essence of "literariness." Calling attention to its techniques and conventions ("baring the device"), literature exposes its autonomy and artificiality by foregrounding and defamiliarizing its devices.

And this term was coined in 1917 by Viktor Shklovsky in his essay "Art as Device!" Simply put, to Viktor Shklovsky, the technique of art is to make objects ‘unfamiliar’!!!

To illustrate what he means by defamiliarization, Shklovsky uses examples from Tolstoy, whom he cites as using the technique throughout his works: "The narrator of 'Kholstomer,' for example, is a horse, and it is the horse's point of view (rather than a person's) that makes the content of the story seem unfamiliar" and hence helps in driving home his points better!

I personally feel, Perumal Murugan has patronized ‘Defamiliarisation’ as a strategy or a device to bring out the plight of the harried people, and the various ills of society, like Brecht uses the ‘distancing effect’ in the realm of his unique theatre!

Murugan’s fiction has a huge cache of animals of all hues! The ethos of farm life, rearing livestock was part of the livelihood of small-time farmers, and Perumal Murugan himself acknowledges in the preface to the book Poonachi, Or The Story Of A Black Goat, about the priority status given to goats in his writings: He says –

I am fearful of writing about humans; even more fearful of writing about gods, he adds. To this, Francesc Miralles nods and says Amen! 

Of the five species of animals with which he is deeply familiar, ‘dogs and cats,’ according to Murugan, ‘are meant for poetry.’ ‘It is forbidden to write about cows and pigs. That leaves only goats and sheep. Goats are problem-free, harmless and, above all, energetic.” Goats are problem-free, harmless and above all, energetic.”

So much for the importance of the title to the novel!

Well, the ‘Narrator’ of Perumal Murugan’s Poonachi, [like Tolstoy’s Kholstomer] is also an animal, - but here, it’s NOT a horse, but a goat!

It’s the story of a she-goat who carries the burden of being different all her life, and who survives against all of life’s insurmountable difficulties.

It is equally an expression of solidarity with the animal world and the female condition as well!

At the same time, a veiled layer of social and political satire also lies behind Poonachi, which, although, in its superficial domain, is about a goat!

Moreover, the tale is also a commentary on our times, on the choices we make as a society and as a nation, and the increasing vulnerability of individuals, particularly writers and artists, who resist when they are pressed to submit.

Perumal Murugan musta taken to the Formalist strategy of defamiliarisation, to drive home his thoughts & ideas much better!

Quite possibly!

Images courtesy: Outlook India, Amazon India & Westa