The Life of Sharatchandra Chattopadhyay : Drifter and Dreamer

Sharatchandra Chattopadhyay has been the most popular writer of novels and short stories in his native Bengaland in India at large. Despite this, he remains unrecognized in the English speaking world. Narasingha P. Sil fills this void by presenting a historical critical assessment of his upbringing and the experiences that influenced his masterful and magnificent work. The Life of Sharatchandra Chattopadhyay rescues the authentic man, a caste-conscious and patriarchal Brahmin of colonial Bengal, from the cuckoo land of gratuitous praise and panegyric showered on the Aparajeya Kathasilpi , the “invincible” wordsmith. The author exposes Sharatchandra’s innate conservative worldview and his romantic platonic concept of human sexuality that inform all his love stories. In many respects Sharatchandra resembles his formidable European forbear, Jean Jacques Rousseau of Enlightenment France. The concluding chapter of Sil’s biographical study introduces this pioneering comparison between the two men—a veritable tour de force . Contents 10 Acknowledgments 12 Preface 14 Translation, Transliteration, Orthography, and Bengali Calendar 18 Chapter 1 20 Chapter 2 30 Chapter 3 42 Chapter 4 50 Chapter 5 60 Chapter 6 68 Chapter 7 80 Chapter 8 102 Chapter 9 112 Chapter 10 126 Chapter 11 136 Chapter 12 146 Glossary 162 Bibliography 166 Index 174 About the Author 180 The Life of Sharatchandra Chatopadhyay presents a historical critical assessment of the novelist's upbringing and the experiences that informed his work. The author exposes Sharatchandra's innate conservative worldview and his romantic platonic concept of human sexuality that informs all his love stories. Narasingha P. Sil. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.