Overview

'Fantasy Fictions from the Bengal Renaissance' presents two masterpieces of Bengali literature by Rabindranath Tagore's nephews, Abanindranath Tagore and Gaganendranath Tagore. 'The Make-Believe Prince' is the delightful story of a king, his two wives, a trickster monkey, a witch, and a helper from another world who is not a 'fairy godmother'. Abanindranath deploys traditional children's rhymes and paints exquisite word-pictures in his unusual original rendering of a tale which has its origins in Bengali folktale materials in various genres. 'Toddy-Cat the Bold' sees a group of brave comrades seek help from a young boy to rescue the son of their leader from the Two-Faced Rakshasa of the forest, and has another, more numinous helper. Inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice books, it presents a comic, exciting, and mysterious journey quite unlike Carroll's, with many traditional local touches and an unexpected ending.

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9780199486755

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There is not an iota of doubt that the two works do represent a substantial contribution to the scholarship within its field ... The introductions and critical apparatus [are] excellent. In fact, they can hardly be bettered ... [The translations are] smooth-running, simple without being naive, lucid, at times, scintillating. All the qualities necessary for a book to be friendly towards children are present in the translation ... I insist, given the high quality of the project, illustrations become one of its integral aspects. - Sibaji Bandyopadhyay, formerly Professor of Cultural Studies, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences Calcutta, Kolkata I have read both the manuscripts with great interest. It has been a learning experience for me ... The translator's introductions to both the texts ... reflect her/his substantial research work in the field. The bibliography compiled will also be very useful for further research work. I would say that both the volumes could be very important contributions to the field ... The translations read very well. --Nilanjana Bhattacharya, Assistant Professor, Department of English and Other Modern European Languages, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan

I have read both the manuscripts with great interest. It has been a learning experience for me ... The translator's introductions to both the texts ... reflect her/his substantial research work in the field. The bibliography compiled will also be very useful for further research work. I would say that both the volumes could be very important contributions to the field ... The translations read very well. * Nilanjana Bhattacharya, Assistant Professor, Department of English and Other Modern European Languages, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan * There is not an iota of doubt that the two works do represent a substantial contribution to the scholarship within its field ... The introductions and critical apparatus [are] excellent. In fact, they can hardly be bettered ... [The translations are] smooth-running, simple without being naive, lucid, at times, scintillating. All the qualities necessary for a book to be friendly towards children are present in the translation ... I insist, given the high quality of the project, illustrations become one of its integral aspects. - Sibaji Bandyopadhyay, formerly Professor of Cultural Studies, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences Calcutta, Kolkata

Author Information

Abanindranath Tagore was a renowned Indian artist, author, and folklorist. Gaganendranath Tagore was a famous satirical cartoonist, and a pioneer of lithography and design in India. Sanjay Sircar is a scholar in children's literature and fantasy fiction, and has a longstanding interest in various marginalliterary traditions.

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