When we are at the verge of the third decade of the twenty first century, and watching about more than ten thousand books getting published every year in Canada, it seems somewhat unbelievable that during the fifties of the last century the picture of Canadian book publishing world was very grieving. Later on, the situation changed and the changes were mostly felt in the literary arena.
Recently, I finished reading a remarkable book “My Lonely Thoughts” by Akbar Hussain, a Toronto-based free thinker. The short, half-a-page to two-pages long articles demonstrate a delightful blending of heart-felt emotion and rational thinking, and at the same time, contain valuable food for thought for any sensible person
I had heard the name of the fiction writer Salma Bani (b. 1962) much before I left Dhaka for Toronto in August 2013. Though during my Dhaka days, possibly unfortunately I did never come across any of Bani’s (Salma is mostly known as Bani than by her first name) books, I considered myself really fortunate when in Toronto a book of hers came on my hand.
William Butler Yeats, the greatest star in the 20th century sky of literature, was at the same time a poet, dramatist, Irish Senator and active organizer. A Nobel laureate of 1923, Yeats, the ‘last romantic’ continuously changed the style of poetry and produced modern poetry tinged with reality, metaphysics, comprehensive life and global theme.
Dr. Dilip Chakraborty, a Bengali living in Brampton of Ontario of Canada, has earned much fame among the expatriate Bengali community for his unparallel zeal, extraordinary knowledge and enthusiastic involvement. An outstanding orator, Dilip, who was born in 1937 in Madaripur of Bangladesh, did his higher education in India and had taught English literature for decades.
Subrata Kumar Das How is to about the history of Canada? How are its systems and practices? How are the dos and don’ts? Certainly it would be excellent if the writer presents all those information in a language befitting for a fiction? And no doubt that would more exciting if the writer uses Bengali as…
Francis Bacon, the first major English essayist, wrote about books, “Books serve for delight, for ornament and for ability.” He further wrote, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested.” Subrata Kumar Das’ autobiographical book ‘Uthso theke Porobas’ (Searching the Roots by an Expat) will suit these observations.
It is a great credit of the Bengali nation that the world has celebrated the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel Laureate Bengali Poet. As readers, how much do we know about Rabindranath? We do not know more about the world famous poet, as huge information about him are unknown to us till date.
MAHABHARATA, an ancient Indian epic, literally means ‘Great India’ and propagates ‘eternal truth’ for humanity. Of all the epics of the world, the Mahabharata is the second oldest (next only to the Ramayana), and the second largest (next only to the Gilgamesh). The Mahabharata is a circle whose center is everywhere but its circumference nowhere.
Among all the epics ever written, the Mahabharata of India is widely read and popular among readers from around the world. The story of an epic is always a big one with lots of characters, fortunes and frailties and above all it passes many messages to its readers. This is true with Iliad, Faust, Paradise Lost and Inferno too. They all have great stories of human sagas, bloody wars, loves and above all trails of tragedies.