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.

The third section presents a slew of independent voices. It includes seminal works by luminaries like Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, Manik Bandyopadhyay, Jibanananda Das, and Sukanta Bhattacharya. Sinha attributes the boom of literary genius in this era to a ‘happy concatenation’, where magazines and cheap, widely available books ignited the imagination of both readers and writers. Next comes the era of the ‘revolutionary fires’, work by those who questioned and resisted the status quo— Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Kanu Sanyal, and Ashapurna Devi. The final section presents modern writers dealing with caste hierarchies, body politics, consumerism, and the media—like Manohar Mouli Biswas, Joy Goswami, and Srijato.

The end of the anthology signals the crumbling of existing hierarchies in the publishing world and heralds the coming of new, raw voices. Vast and unparalleled in its scope, The Bengal Reader reflects the literary life of Bengal across two centuries. It will outlast generations and stand the test of time.