This is a selection of fifteen short stories, and an extract from a novel, by the iconic Bengali writer Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay (1894-1950). An eclectic mix of stories pertaining to the natural world and the supernatural, they straddle his two abiding concerns-Man and Nature. Some depict urban and mofussil life in big cities like Calcutta; others, set in remote pockets of rural Bengal and tribal areas bordering Jharkhand and Bihar, depict the unadorned, rustic ways of life there, testament to Bibhutibhushan's boundless love for India's forests.
The modern Bengali ghost story has flourished since the late nineteenth century. Bibhutibhushan, a prominent writer of this genre, draws upon the venerable tradition of haunted house stories, to which he adds tales of haunted or accursed objects, insanity, guardian spirits, and also lycanthropy, rare in Bengali literary fiction. Deeply religious-though not in any conventional sense- and possessed of a profound curiosity about all things living and otherwise, Bibhutibhushan appears to have believed in life after death. But he is also a writer who celebrates life itself, in all its aspects, with a catholicity of vision and a prodigious empathy especially for those on its very margins. Each story in this collection, eerie or not, carries the indelible Bibhutibhushan trademark, of being unforgettable once read.
Debashish Sen's translations bring to life Bibhutibhushan's fictional worlds with as much felicity to his craft as a deep understanding and knowledge of the writer's worldview. This volume is a must-read, especially for readers outside Bengal unfamiliar with the magic of one of Bengal's most-loved and legendary writers.
Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay (1894-1950), the author of eighteen novels and nearly two hundred and fifty stories, is indisputably one of Bengal's greatest and most loved writers, and a principal architect of modern Bangla fiction and realism. A master wordsmith, with an equal gift for both the novel and the short story, his works have been widely translated and adapted for the small and big screen, most famously, his first novel Pather Panchali and its sequel Aparajito, by Satyajit Ray. Deeply lyrical, with a profound empathy for all facets of life and the living, and a sharp eye for the extraordinary in the guise of the ordinary, his other well-known works include Aranyak, Adarsha Hindu Hotel, Debjan, Ashani Sanket, and Chander Pahar.
B ibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay made his name as a novelist when, in 1929, the publication of his debut novel Pather Panchali shot him to fame almost overnight. Today, it is mainly on the strength of his eighteen novels that he is considered one of the principal architects of modern Bangla fiction. Several highly acclaimed movies and TV series, including four major films by Satyajit Ray, were created from some of these works. Unfortunately, all this has somewhat eclipsed Bibhutibhushan's excellence as a writer of short stories, especially among those who do not read Bangla natively.
Bibhutibhushan wrote nearly two hundred and fifty stories, which include the very first and the last of his published works. Over the span of his career, which lasted about twenty-eight years, he explored a great variety of themes and styles. The sixteen narratives in the present collection can be said to belong to two or three loose thematic groups, which I will try to describe. I say 'loose" because many of these stories defy neat assignment to any one group.
Clearly, the translator is fond of ghost stories, because his selection of sixteen contains nine tales of the supernatural. Bibhutibhushan is among the prominent writers of the modern Bangla ghost story, a genre that has flourished since the late nineteenth century. The events of his life seem to suggest that he became attracted to spiritualism and theosophy after the untimely passing of his first wife in his youth, about a year after their marriage. He was a deeply religious man, though not in any conventional sense. Although religiosity does not necessarily imply belief in life after death, Bibhutibhushan seems to have believed in it, if we accept his unusual novel Debjaan as an expression of his faith. There, the protagonist dies within the first few pages, and the rest of the book shows his afterlife and interactions with the world of the living.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
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