The Life of Sharatchandra Chattopadhyay: Drifter and Dreamer

by Narasingha P. Sil

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611475074
Publisher:	University Press Copublishing Division
Publication date:	12/21/2011
Pages:	180
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Narasingha P. Sil taught at colleges in Calcutta and Chandannagar for three years and at the University of Benin for seven years before moving to Western Oregon University in January 1987, from where he retired as professor of history in July 2011. His working paper “The Babu of Colonial Calcutta: A Reassessment” was published by Monash University Press in 2009. His bibliographical essay on Sri Ramakrsna will be published by Oxford University Press in 2012. His monograph, Swami Vivekananda: A Reassessment (Susquehanna University Press, prior to 1997), was selected by Choice as an "Outstanding Academic Book" in the field of religious studies.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Translation, Transliteration, Orthography, Bengali Calendar
Chapter One
Prolegomena
Political and Social Condition of Late Colonial India
Chapter Two
Sharatchandra’s Parents: Matilal and Bhubanmohini Chattopadhyay
Sharatchandra’s Childhood and Early Youth
Sharatchandra’s Physical and Emotional Makeup
Chapter Three
The Making of a Literary Career: the Beginnings
Chapter Four
Sharatchandra in Rangoon: A Nonresident Nobody from Bengal
Low Life in Rangoon: “A Season in Hell”
Chapter Five
Literary Career during Rangoon Days
Chapter Six
Baje Shibpur: Return of the Prodigal Son
Panitras: Sharat the Glowing Moon
Calcutta: End of Journey
Chapter Seven
Treasures of the Invincible Wordsmith [Aparajeya Kathasilpi]
Pallisamaj, Araknaniy, Dena Paona, Banadidi, Debdas,
Caritrahin, Srikanta, Seprasna
Chapter Eight
Sharatchandra’s Caste and Gender Consciousness
Shartchandra’s Male and Female Characters
Sharatchandra’s Caste consciousness
Chapter Nine
Bankim-Rabindranath-Sharatchandra
Bankimchandra
Rabindranath
Rabindranath and Sharatchandra: An Episode of Elegant Misunderstanding
Chapter Ten
Sharatchandra’s Political Ideas and Activities
Sharatchandra’s Pather Dabi
Chapter Eleven
Sharatchandra’s Enduring Popularity
Chapter Twelve
Sharatchandra and Jean Jacques Rousseau: A Tour de Force
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Editorial Reviews

I really enjoyed Drifter and Dreamer. .. The spread is just right for the subject, the depth impressive, and the language is Sil's signature—taken all together—outstanding.

Sumit Roy

Drifter and Dreamer is a copiously researched and elegantly written biography. .. This book ought to be translated in Bengali for there is no biography of Sharatchandra in Bengali that can match Sil's comprehensive and excellent life history of the famed author and storyteller.

Dilip K. Basu