Short stories
গড্ডলিকা
Not translated into English
Rajshekhar Basu · 1924
Synopsis
Satirical tales of Calcutta in the twenties. In the most famous, devotion to a neighbourhood goddess turns into a joint-stock company. Nanda Babu, who has fallen from a tram, wanders from doctor to doctor, allopath, homeopath, practitioner of ancient medicine, each with his own diagnosis and remedies. Shibu Bhattacharya, a village priest unhappy in his marriage, dies and becomes the Brahmin ghost of a tree in the deserted field of Bhushandi, where other dead come to join him.
Context
The 1924 book collects stories first given to a monthly, the first of which, which turns a cult into a business, had appeared in 1922. It earned its author the praise of Rabindranath Tagore. The stories combine exact observation with reasoning pursued to the point of absurdity, against credulity, false scholars and parvenus. Sukanta Chaudhuri and Palash Baran Pal translated several of them into English in a selection published by Penguin, in which the story of the field of Bhushandi is regarded as one of the high points of the genre.
Who it is for
Short tales that can be read separately. It is better to know something of Bengali domestic life and devotions, which the comedy takes as its target. No French translation.
Prizes and reception
The first book by the most famous humorist in Bengali, praised by Tagore as soon as it appeared.
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