The Bengal Reader: The Finest Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry and Plays from the Bengali – Ed. and Tr. by Arunava Sinha (Hardcover)

Description

The Bengal Reader is the most expansive anthology of Bengali writing in translation yet published in one volume. Ranging from the nineteenth century to the present, it is edited and translated by one of the most prolific translators of our times, Arunava Sinha. It opens up the wealth of Bengali writing to a wide audience, both Bengali and non-Bengali.

The book is arranged along the axis of time. The first section contains the works of the ‘argumentative Bengali’. These include the likes of Rammohun Roy’s argument against sati, Michael Madhusudan Dutt’s The Slaying of Meghnad, Lalon Fokir’s verse, and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s satire. The second section tips its hat to Rabindranath Tagore, then goes on to reveal an extraordinary line-up of writers who also shaped and expanded the perspectives of their readers and Indian society in general. Here, you will read an excerpt from Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Devdas, essays by scientists like Jagadish Chandra Bose and Meghnad Saha, and Sukumar Ray’s humour, among others.