A Poet Apart: A Literary Biography of the Bengali Poet Jibanananda Das (1899-1954)

by Clinton B. Seely

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0874133564
• ISBN13: 9780874133561
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: University of Delaware Press
• Length: 341 Pages

Customer Reviews

Just some words about the garbage that a seemingly muslim might have delivered below

Unlike the gentleman who decided to not to dignify this reviewer's (the one who talked about how the poet was not reborn as a crow even though he should have been :-)) comments with counter remarks, let me do that. Even though I come from a very civilized upbringing, living abroad in the U.S. literally has transformed my communication to a level where I can actually talk to the "low-lives" or "choto-lok" like the one who simply wanted to express his hatred of himself (assuming it was a male, if a female or of unknown gender, please read with whatever pronoun you might find appropriate). Yes, it is his hatred of himself. I think that thing posted two remarks with one star. I will comment on that assumption. First, there is no Hindu nationalism you moron. There might be some fundamentalists but Hindus are not nationalistic or at least like the way you sheiks or muslims are. Why am I assuming you are musolli? Because nobody from any other religion or group in this world actually will go about try to write the things that you wrote, yes, not even some white extremist group will do so. The reviewer talked about Anglo-Hindu love affair. Well it is true. Why do you think the Anglos feel comfortable being in a love affair with the Hindus? You got it...we are equal, equal in the very process of thinking. You might not know your history. The holy books in Hinduism refer to civilized, high caste Hindus as Aryas which when used as an adjective refers to Aryan and then it became a noun when the word was in the process of being exploited. The word was exploited by some extremists in the past but it simply refers to a civilized person who has good "manners". If you speak Bengali and you are not a Hindu, then rest assured that your ancestors were. Nobody in the Indian subcontinent is a true Muslim, they are converts or outsiders who moved to India. Yes, it sounds like your ancestors might have been a "choto-lok" or "low-life". It's funny in a sense. Whenever I try to find peace, I read Jibanananda and when I was trying to find peace here today, trying to read reviews of this book, I come across this idiot. You know there is a thing called evolution and like the Neanderthals just vanished from the face of this earth, some subset of the mankind might follow the path. Yes, these abominations are technically human as I don't think differentiation of their genome has come to a point where reproduction with "normal" population is not possible. But it might be, sometime in the future. Just remember this, the world does not have a problem with the Anglos or the Hindus right now. Just sit down and think about why someone in the European or American literary world does not even bother to translate or write about non-Hindu literature in South-Asia. You things are things of the past. Wake up and smell the reality. And oh yeah, hatred of the reviewer himself is so obvious. For anybody who does not know the history of Bengali literature, it flourished via the Hindus.

A rare sincerity to give it the stature of a model

Some people attain a height by sheer merit. But that even love's labour can help one claim a position of true significance has amply been demonstrated by what happened to this book! Seely's book is now known to almost all Jibanananda admirers a large number of whom are, to tell you the truth, not very enthusiastic about English texts. The book can act like a model as to how one should start a literary acquaintance from the scratches. It has succeeded in presenting an able perspective to Jibanananda's work in terms of a geographic, ecological, political, mythological background. The use of the folk lores, seasonal motiffs, motiffs to transcend the cultural unfamiliarities have been remarkably identified and presented. In my opinion, the translations (for most of the oft-heard poems of the poet) are quite of satisfactory standard. Bengalis lamented among themselves the relative obscurity their achievements have often been destined to and this book gave them some satisfaction and slight expectation that Jibabanananda will be appreciated by international readers if not as much as he deserved to be. The hard work that has gone into its writing and the heart-work that it has possibly achieved will reward Seely with a name not unknown to the readers of Bengali poetry. It is pity that a person of his reputation has to oblige funding authorities for the chair at Chicago University, at present being graced by him.

Jibanananda Das - The Poet of the Invisible

"A Poet Apart" is a scholarly written book by Clinton B. Seely on Jibanananda Das, the most influential poet of Bengal after Rabindranath Tagore. Poet Jibanananda, in the book by Prof. Seely, is manifested uniquely in an historical time. Prof. Seely has rightly brought forth geography, politics, myth, metaphysics, literature etc. of Bengal, in the historical sense, as the basis for the formation of the essential matrix in which the poetry of Jibanananda formed, evolved, and completed its transmutation from the visible to the invisible. Prof. Seely has done a superb literary work in bringing the life and poetry of Jibanananda Das to the English speaking readers, writers, and scholars.

An amazing mix of scholarship, insight, and creativity

"A Poet Apart" by Professor Seely is an amazing work where research scholarship, intelligence, multicultural insights gained only from experience, and poetic creativity have wonderfully blended in.Professor Seely has lived in Bangladesh (particularly in Barisal, where Jibanananda was born and raised), deeply entrenched himself in a mix of the local people, their language, culture, natural surroundings (important to understand the Dhansiri, Hijal, Kirtankhola references), ethnicity, and socio-political tradition, studied the poet's work thoroughly, and produced a phenomenal work on the poet in this book.The translations of Jibanananda's uniquely Bengali coinages are simply astounding. I literally felt the same milieu and complexities of the poet through the translations.But a translation of Jibanananda's work is not the only gift you receive from this book - it is the hermeneutic effort that goes into 'fusion of cultural horizons", beyond objectivity and relativity, that astounds the reader.Early on in the book, Seely goes into a chapter of Bengal's history, geography, people, and cultural archetype which is so carefully, respectfully, and accurately knit that it instantly establishes credibility.The rest is for the reader to read and enjoy.I insist that you read this book.