Wreck

10 hrs. 3 min.

Romance & Prose

Language Russian

Author Rabindranath Tagore

Narrator Vyacheslav Gerasimov

Description

The events described in “The Ruin” take place in the second half of the 19th century—that period when the consolidation of capitalism in India led to the end of the Bengal people’s consolidation into a nation, triggered the breakdown of old feudal social relations.

Tagore called the novel “The Ruin,” and it is perfectly clear that with this title he symbolized the breaking of the old way of life in Bengal in the mid-19th century.

The betrothal of two pairs—Romesh and Sushila, Nalinakhia and Komola—was carried out according to an old Indian custom: the young people were not acquainted before the wedding, did not love one another, and, entering marriage, only submitted to the will of their elders. Both families were supposed to build their lives on the same basis as their fathers. But during a storm on the river, participants in the wedding celebrations die, and the author brings together the survivors—a young man and a young woman who mistakenly believe themselves to be husband and wife. These two are placed in completely unusual conditions: they have no past—it drowned with the people who perished in the storm; they have no relatives, no home of a father-in-law (as the husband’s family home is traditionally called, where young people usually settled). The author gives Romesh and Komola a full opportunity to get to know each other closely and to build their life according to their own judgment.