Tathagata Banerjee Modernism in literature, as a movement, can be seen through so many different frames that it is quite rudimentary to assess it from one specific point-of-view. Yet, whenever we have looked back on this tumultuous era ranging from the 1900s-1940s, the raging intention of the creations in this period seem to have one…
All posts in Issue 4, April 2023
On Seamus Heaney’s ‘Two Lorries’
Smitha Sehgal In the magnificent poem Two Lorries, Seamus Heaney holds forth reflection of two worlds juxtaposed in different timelines. On the surface of it, this poem meanders on the nostalgia of a rural era ensconced in simplicity. The end of this era is rapidly taken over by developments on the political front pushing Northern…
Petrarchism for the Female Poet : Introducing Veronica Gambara, Vittoria Colonna and Gaspara Stampa
Monica Louis Discussing women poets using Petrarchism, draws back to how the female protagonist of Petrarch’s poems is heard if at all. Laura only speaks after her death. Whenever she speaks, her speech is praised for being articulate rather than having any rational quality. In sonnet 200 of the Rerum vulgariam fragmenta, Petrarch praises Laura’s…
Reading Sutapa Chaudhuri’s “Me”
Farah Imam ‘If any female feels she needs anything beyond herself to legitimate and validate her existence, she is already giving away her power to be self-defining, her agency’ Bell Hooks. Dr Sutapa Chaudhuri in her provocative poem titled ‘Me’ carves out an identity of herself. The title calls attention to the poet for her…
Book Review: Until Birds Sing by Amita Ray
Nishi Pulugurtha Penprints, Kolkata, 2022, Rs. 250/- Academic and translator, Amita Ray dons many hats. While translation is what is close to her heart, she is equally at ease when writing short stories and poems. Her debut collection of poems, Until Birds Sing, a collection of sixty-two poems is testimony to it. Actively associated with…
Book Review: A Printed Mixtape by Aritra Basu
Namrota Purakayastha Aritra Basu’s debut collection of poem A Printed Mixtape is about a young man breaking even with life as he sees it, and how life comes to him against the backdrop of the infinitely complicated web of life. As we open the book, carelessly skipping through the carefully crafted preface, we are faced…
Memories and the City: A Review of Nikita Parik’s My City is a Murder of Crows
Dhee Sankar Some poetic voices flourish in prolixity and loftiness, while for some others, brevity is the soul of poetry. Nikita Parik’s latest collection of poems, My City is a Murder of Crows, published by Hawakal, is a remarkable exemplum of the latter kind of poetics. Effortlessly traversing through the visceral to the spiritual, the…
Sutanuka Ghosh Roy
Beyond Babel She helps in building houses she never had one, sleeps on the railway platform body bartered for the dream of knitting a haven. Each brick on her coiled braid designs a new fabric in her mind’s loom. Each grain of sand the shovel clears becomes an anchor in the star. Each lung stiffening…
Susmita Banerji
Dr. Susmita Bandyopadhyay Dr. Susmita Bandyopadhyay is an Associate Professor in Bengali. She is a well known author and contributed immensely to Bengali Literature through teaching and publications. Her latest book of Poems “Tumi Daak Diyechho Bolei “ is creating ripples in the Bengali academic circle.
Srinka Bose
Dimensions I recall the traffic snarl that day, The one in which we were caught. The AC in the car read 22 As my symbol of freedom, I bought. The flag-pole was smaller than my palm, A 4-inch aluminium stick, The tricolour a perfect 3:2, A ₹10 drawn out quick! The AC switched off felt…