Back of the Book Bibhutibhushan has a unique style of speaking, homely and laid-back. Listening to his voice, one thinks of things like an informal gathering of friends, lazy afternoons, rainy spells. story-telling sessions and hookahs... The rambling, intimate style is the perfect frame for the kind of tale he tells.
About the Book During his lifetime, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay wrote 16 novels and over 200 short stories, many of which have been translated into several other languages, including English, Malayalam, Telegu, and Sinhalese. Many of his works have also been adapted into films, the most famous being Pather Panchali, Aparajito, Apur Sansar, and Chander Pahar. The brilliance of Bibhutibhushan's stories lies in his preoccupation with a whole universe of human beings discovering their destinies amidst their complicated circumstances; as well as for the feeling of intimacy he invokes among his readers, making even ordinary life seem extraordinary. For this reason, Bibhutibhushan has remained one of the most beloved and well-known writers of our times. The stories in this collection, introduced by the author's grandson, Tathagata Banerjee, are some of the finest examples of his storytelling.
About the Authors (1894-1950), one of the prominent fiction writers in Bengali literature, is best known for his novel Pather Panchali and its sequel, Aparajito. After completing his undergraduate degree from Ripon College, Kolkata, the author worked as a publicist, a secretary, and a teacher, before penning Pather Panchali in 1928, for which he gained critical acclaim. The novel was adapted into an award-winning film in 1955 by the famous director, Satyajit Ray.
Although Bibhutibhushan was writing during a time of socio-political upheaval, his writings tend to be influenced by personal experience, such his family's poverty, his life in rural Bengal, his close relationship with nature, and the loss of his first wife. He was posthumously awarded the Rabindra Puraskar, West Bengal's most prestigious literary award, in 1951.
Rani Ray studied English at Bedford College, London and University of California. She has taught English at the University of Delhi, University of California at Santa Barbara and Institute of English Studies in Poland. She has rendered into English a substantial volume of Bengali fiction including short stories of eminent writers like Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Joy Goswami, Suchitra Bhattacharya, Anita Agnihotri and above all Rabindranath Tagore.
Introduction It is unfortunate fact that the literatures of the Indian I regional languages, or even the names of their great writers, remain relatively unknown outside their respective regions. Rabindranath is perhaps a special case, because his fame is of a special kind. Other Bengali writers like Bibhutibhushan, Jibanananda, Manik Bandyopadhyay etc., are well-known in Indian academic circles, but the average reader who does not read Bengali, knows little about them. The average Bengali readers, too, will not find it easy to name a best-selling Malayalam novelist or a great Gujarati poet.
One reason behind this is the non-availability of good translations. The Sahitya Akademi has done some work in this field, but it is too much for any one organization to translate the vast bodies of deserving literature in each regional language into 20-odd others.
A solution lies in attempts like this book. English is now not so much a foreign language', as it is a convenient platform for reaching out to a wide readership. Whether it can express Indian experiences adequately is a different question, but it is undoubtedly the most elegant solution.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
