Seminar presentation at the Refresher Course on ‘Gender and Society: Theories and Actions’, organ... more Seminar presentation at the Refresher Course on ‘Gender and Society: Theories and Actions’, organised by the Department of Women’s Studies and the UGC-HRDC, University of North Bengal. 28 July 2022.
This paper tries to examine critically the emerging and porous discourses of modernity and litera... more This paper tries to examine critically the emerging and porous discourses of modernity and literary modernism in Bengal in the early decades of twentieth century through a close reading of the essay 'Adhunik Kavya' by Rabindranath Tagore.
An essay on the poetical corpus of Samyam Pal, an eminent Bangla poet who started publishing in 1... more An essay on the poetical corpus of Samyam Pal, an eminent Bangla poet who started publishing in 1980s.
The so-called 'mainstream' Bangla Literature has rarely appeared in the marginal ethnic groups or... more The so-called 'mainstream' Bangla Literature has rarely appeared in the marginal ethnic groups or tribal lives. However, there are some glorious exceptions, and the present paper will focus on two such short stories, written approximately three decades apart. Satinath Bhaduri's 'Anta-Bangla' from Gananayak and other stories (1947) tries to look into the life of a tribal family in the greater Terai region and its gradual elimination in the background of a colonial reality and ensuing War. Mahasweta Devi's 'Draupadi' from Agnigarbha (1976) depicts the perils and the resistance of a tribal woman participating in the Naxalbari Movement and how the state conducts itself vis-à-vis a personality that does not conform with the expectations of the independent nation-state. In both cases, the characters fall either into gradual oblivion or to violent assault. With a close analysis of the material conditions of the tribal lives and the nature of their contact with the so called 'civilized' society and state, the paper will try to understand the limits and the perils, often futilities, of the epistemological endeavours and would try to make a case for an empathetic understanding beyond the 'emic'-etic' binary. Note: The used image in the cover is a photograph of a sculptre by Ramkinkar Baij called
An attempt to engage with two of the celebrated Bangla translations of the poem 'Herbst' by Riner... more An attempt to engage with two of the celebrated Bangla translations of the poem 'Herbst' by Riner Maria Rilke and an attempt at a third one.
The issue of agency remains a crucial factor in the perception of the centre-margin binary, while... more The issue of agency remains a crucial factor in the perception of the centre-margin binary, while the literary aesthetics challenges not only the binary, but also the categories themselves on the basis of the same premise. On the other hand, sometimes at the intersection of Literature, history and literary history the question of agency is used in such a manner that the very act of reading becomes a very crucial text in itself. The proposed paper, in the first place, will try to understand, through a reading of Gauri Aiyub’s short story ‘Trijama’ (Tuccha kichu sukh-dukkho, Dey’s, 1986), how the question of agency has been used to create a mere site of a character by the denial of any agency. It will then move on to a close reading of Dinesh Chandra Sen’s historic essay ‘Srigouranger Lilabasan’ (published in Bharatbarsha, Phalgun 1335 bs) to reach at an understanding of the question of agency in the task of reading itself. In the course of this reading, it will also like to look at some of the hagiographies on Chaitanya and Ramakrishna Kathamrita (volume III, published 1908) to reflect on an idea of a ‘knowledge-site’, which functioned as a recurrent trope in such texts. Finally, very briefly, the paper will try to question itself regarding the centre-margin binary in a literary text to ask whether the task of reading itself could venture beyond what is central or marginal in the text concerned. The paper tries to present, at best, a set of tentative reflections rather than a comprehensive argument.
Seminar presentation at the Refresher Course on ‘Gender and Society: Theories and Actions’, organ... more Seminar presentation at the Refresher Course on ‘Gender and Society: Theories and Actions’, organised by the Department of Women’s Studies and the UGC-HRDC, University of North Bengal. 28 July 2022.
This paper tries to examine critically the emerging and porous discourses of modernity and litera... more This paper tries to examine critically the emerging and porous discourses of modernity and literary modernism in Bengal in the early decades of twentieth century through a close reading of the essay 'Adhunik Kavya' by Rabindranath Tagore.
An essay on the poetical corpus of Samyam Pal, an eminent Bangla poet who started publishing in 1... more An essay on the poetical corpus of Samyam Pal, an eminent Bangla poet who started publishing in 1980s.
The so-called 'mainstream' Bangla Literature has rarely appeared in the marginal ethnic groups or... more The so-called 'mainstream' Bangla Literature has rarely appeared in the marginal ethnic groups or tribal lives. However, there are some glorious exceptions, and the present paper will focus on two such short stories, written approximately three decades apart. Satinath Bhaduri's 'Anta-Bangla' from Gananayak and other stories (1947) tries to look into the life of a tribal family in the greater Terai region and its gradual elimination in the background of a colonial reality and ensuing War. Mahasweta Devi's 'Draupadi' from Agnigarbha (1976) depicts the perils and the resistance of a tribal woman participating in the Naxalbari Movement and how the state conducts itself vis-à-vis a personality that does not conform with the expectations of the independent nation-state. In both cases, the characters fall either into gradual oblivion or to violent assault. With a close analysis of the material conditions of the tribal lives and the nature of their contact with the so called 'civilized' society and state, the paper will try to understand the limits and the perils, often futilities, of the epistemological endeavours and would try to make a case for an empathetic understanding beyond the 'emic'-etic' binary. Note: The used image in the cover is a photograph of a sculptre by Ramkinkar Baij called
An attempt to engage with two of the celebrated Bangla translations of the poem 'Herbst' by Riner... more An attempt to engage with two of the celebrated Bangla translations of the poem 'Herbst' by Riner Maria Rilke and an attempt at a third one.
The issue of agency remains a crucial factor in the perception of the centre-margin binary, while... more The issue of agency remains a crucial factor in the perception of the centre-margin binary, while the literary aesthetics challenges not only the binary, but also the categories themselves on the basis of the same premise. On the other hand, sometimes at the intersection of Literature, history and literary history the question of agency is used in such a manner that the very act of reading becomes a very crucial text in itself. The proposed paper, in the first place, will try to understand, through a reading of Gauri Aiyub’s short story ‘Trijama’ (Tuccha kichu sukh-dukkho, Dey’s, 1986), how the question of agency has been used to create a mere site of a character by the denial of any agency. It will then move on to a close reading of Dinesh Chandra Sen’s historic essay ‘Srigouranger Lilabasan’ (published in Bharatbarsha, Phalgun 1335 bs) to reach at an understanding of the question of agency in the task of reading itself. In the course of this reading, it will also like to look at some of the hagiographies on Chaitanya and Ramakrishna Kathamrita (volume III, published 1908) to reflect on an idea of a ‘knowledge-site’, which functioned as a recurrent trope in such texts. Finally, very briefly, the paper will try to question itself regarding the centre-margin binary in a literary text to ask whether the task of reading itself could venture beyond what is central or marginal in the text concerned. The paper tries to present, at best, a set of tentative reflections rather than a comprehensive argument.
Uploads
The proposed paper, in the first place, will try to understand, through a reading of Gauri Aiyub’s short story ‘Trijama’ (Tuccha kichu sukh-dukkho, Dey’s, 1986), how the question of agency has been used to create a mere site of a character by the denial of any agency. It will then move on to a close reading of Dinesh Chandra Sen’s historic essay ‘Srigouranger Lilabasan’ (published in Bharatbarsha, Phalgun 1335 bs) to reach at an understanding of the question of agency in the task of reading itself. In the course of this reading, it will also like to look at some of the hagiographies on Chaitanya and Ramakrishna Kathamrita (volume III, published 1908) to reflect on an idea of a ‘knowledge-site’, which functioned as a recurrent trope in such texts.
Finally, very briefly, the paper will try to question itself regarding the centre-margin binary in a literary text to ask whether the task of reading itself could venture beyond what is central or marginal in the text concerned. The paper tries to present, at best, a set of tentative reflections rather than a comprehensive argument.
The proposed paper, in the first place, will try to understand, through a reading of Gauri Aiyub’s short story ‘Trijama’ (Tuccha kichu sukh-dukkho, Dey’s, 1986), how the question of agency has been used to create a mere site of a character by the denial of any agency. It will then move on to a close reading of Dinesh Chandra Sen’s historic essay ‘Srigouranger Lilabasan’ (published in Bharatbarsha, Phalgun 1335 bs) to reach at an understanding of the question of agency in the task of reading itself. In the course of this reading, it will also like to look at some of the hagiographies on Chaitanya and Ramakrishna Kathamrita (volume III, published 1908) to reflect on an idea of a ‘knowledge-site’, which functioned as a recurrent trope in such texts.
Finally, very briefly, the paper will try to question itself regarding the centre-margin binary in a literary text to ask whether the task of reading itself could venture beyond what is central or marginal in the text concerned. The paper tries to present, at best, a set of tentative reflections rather than a comprehensive argument.