1:46 AM

THE GREAT BENGALI POETRY UNDERGROUND



(Translated from the Bengali with an introduction by Rajat Chaudhuri, রজত চৌধুরী )                   
In the pages of Bengali little magazines of India and Bangladesh and the obscure recesses of an ever-vibrant literary culture, spring other voices, other words – another art of seeing. Hidden from the glare of mainstream writing and often ignored in the portals of high culture, secret wizards of verse are chiselling away at experience, conjuring up the poetry of a stricken time. 

A poetry which genuflects before no one while delivering its irreverent message in whispers or cat calls. The subterranean chambers of Bengali underground poetry echo with angst and experiment, glow in the blurry heat of passion or slip into a meditative silence as it plumbs the depths of the heart. This collection trawls the darkest corners of the Bengali literary universe offering to English language readers, the first glimpse of an uncharted ocean – its winds, storms and unstoppable tides.


Poets: Agni Roy, Novera Hossain, Mitul Dutta, Tanmay Mridha, Atanu Chakrabortty, Gouranga Mondal, Shapla Shawparjita, Pratyush Bandopadhyay, Aysa Jhorna, Arpan Chakraborty


ISBN-978-981-14-9496-3
Published by: Kitaab (Singapore)

Get the book 
|AmazonFlipkart Kinokuniya Baatighar 

and other Bookstores

You Might Also Like

0 comments

Reviews of Spellcasters

Chaudhuri's prose is lucid; unexpected twists inform this part psycho-logical thriller and part climate fiction.' The Telegraph


Reviews of Multispecies Cities

Listed in `The Definitive Climate Fiction Reading List’' Grist (US)

`Joyously ambitious solarpunk ... excels when entwining relational nuance with keenly handled futurist ideas ... number of gems for fans of climate fiction' Publishers Weekly

`Filled with a polyphony of voices ... Engaging introduction' Leanne Ogasawara, Books on Asia (Japan)


Reviews of The Great Bengali Poetry Underground

`Excellent translation ... Hard to find flavour of a culture in ferment' Scroll

`Translator seems to have masterfully reproduced in English the sting and beat of the original Bengali versions' Indian Literature journal (Sahitya Akademi)

`What comes across in the translations, from the very beginning, are the poems' distinctive Bengali origin' Daily Star (Bangladesh)

`Social-existential cares are interwoven with allusions to local or national issues ... will subtly shift our perception as to the currents of Bengali underground poetry' New Indian Express


Reviews of Calcutta Nights

`Masterfully translated' The Telegraph

`Important from the point of view of culture studies' Indian Literature journal

`Fascinating as a document of the 20th century city'  Trisha Gupta, India Today

`Flawless translation ... retains racy flavour' Sajni Mukherji, Outlook magazine

`Translator craftily balances archaic words with new ones, never upsetting the tonal authenticity of a period piece.' Scroll

`A unique cosmopolitan setting' Business Standard

`Excellent translation ... a crisp read' Ganesh Saili, New Indian Express

`A tale of beauty and decadence' South China Morning Post

`Interesting ... for readers interested in history and the Asian experience of transition to modernity.' Asian Review of Books, Hong Kong

`A guidebook to the dark dens of eeriness' Press Trust of India (PTI)

`What a punch this little volume packs' India Abroad News Service of India (IANS)


Reviews of The Butterfly Effect

`Propels the accumulated anxieties of a city into a shape-shifting future vortex' Anjana Basu, Outlook magazine 

`Explores a Ballardian near-future' Amy Brady, Words Without Borders

`Genre-bending' Amy Brady, Houston Chronicle, USA

`Projects the tropes of a new politics of imagination ... a new eco-sophy is created'Krishnan Unni. P, Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi 

`Indian novel's story parallels the deadly coronavirus outbreak' Times of India (news)

`Compelling' UNI

`A magic box ... brings Allan Poe to mind' Scroll

`Ten Works of Environmental Literature from Around the World' Book Riot, USA(listing)

`A wild ride, with brilliant and Ballardian descriptions' Eco-fiction

`Vivid storytelling dovetails with a playful structure' Bengaluru Review

`Fifty Must-Read Novels about Eco-Disaster' Book Riot, USA (listing)

`Around the World in 80 Books' Dragonfly Ecofiction (listing)


Reviews of The Best Asian Speculative Fiction

`A necessary and successful conglomerate' The Telegraph

`An important contribution to an ever-expanding and dynamic literary form' Southeast Asian Review of English (SARE), Malaysia

`More than just fantasy' Pune Mirror-Times of India (listing) 

`South Asian Studies Summer Reading List', Prof Mou Banerjee, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA (listing) 


Reviews of Hotel Calcutta

`Sheer power of storytelling' The Telegraph

`A persuasive artist...Hotel Calcutta invites a hungry, urgent reading' Asian Review of Books

`A very innovative frame story' Journal of Commonwealth Literature

`An astounding work that interrogates the myriad surfaces of reality' Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi

`A dazzling "wall of stories" in Calcutta' The Sunday Guardian

`Very urban and 21st century' Sanjukta Dasgupta

`Chaudhuri tells us something also of the 'art' of the story.' Anu Kumar, The Thumb Print Magazine

`A web both classical and new.' Spark Magazine

`A writer to watch out for' Sushma Joshi, Kitaab

`His themes reveal a deep fascination with human response to the extraordinary’ Helter Skelter

Goodreads


Reviews of Calculus

`Might set a new trend in fiction writing' (in Bengali) Ekak Matra

Reviews of Amber Dusk

`A heady mix of experiences' The Telegraph  

`A memorable novel of East-West encounter' Amitava Roy 

`Another type of writing emerging within Indian English writing' Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi (JSTOR)

`Praised for its evocation of Calcutta and Paris' Journal of Commonwealth Literature 

`Surrealism explored ... A gifted writer of fiction' Deccan Herald  

`A delicately crafted story about love, loathing and the quest for peace in a time of intolerance' The Statesman  





Official website of author, Rajat Chaudhuri. All text, images and photographs (except for material whose copyright belongs to others) on this website are ©Rajat Chaudhuri , 2007-2024 All rights reserved.
All text, images and photographs on this website are © Rajat Chaudhuri All rights reserved.. Powered by Blogger.