Mridul Dasgupta
A representative anthology of revered Bengali poet Mridul Dasgupta, presented in dynamic English translations by Anindita Mukherjee.
A Major Bengali Poet in Luminous Translation This stunning collection introduces English-language readers to Mridul Dasgupta, one of Bengal’s most revered contemporary poets, in vibrant translations by Anindita Mukherjee. A poet of tremendous lyric range and power, Dasgupta moves with hummingbird-like shifts of mood, tempo, and diction—each poem alive with music and precision. A World of Shadows, Sound, and Vastness Dasgupta is a poet of cryptograms and immensities. He revels in shadows, the mysteries of sound, and the afterlife of imagination. To enter his poetic world is to step into a maze—one that asks the reader to retrace their steps as often as they move forward. Here, rivers bear witness and dissolve boundaries; love and death converge; and language itself becomes a “secret correspondence.” In this universe, even “crockeries chat with dust and stars.” Meticulous, Expansive, Necessary Wide-ranging yet exacting, Dasgupta’s vision stretches across time and space—from metaphysical inquiry to imagined futures, from religion and geography to the intimate terrains of love. In poems such as 2070, he conjures worlds both fathomable and fantastical. Anindita Mukherjee’s translations do more than interpret—they illuminate. With rhythmic elegance and striking word choices, she renders Dasgupta’s intricate, enigmatic oeuvre with clarity and force, making these essential poems newly legible for English readers. Enchanting, formidable, and intellectually charged, this representative anthology captures the subtle, fleeting moments of life in condensed, luminous verse.
