Nabarun Bhattacharya (23 June 1948 – 31 July 2014) was an Indian writer who wrote in the

Bengali language Bengali, also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Bangla (, , ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. ...

. He was born at

Berhampore Berhampore (), also known as Baharampur (), is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. Berhampore is the administrative headquarters of the Murshidabad district. As of 2011 census, Berhampore is the seventh largest city ...

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. He was the only child of actor and playwright

Bijon Bhattacharya Bijon Bhattacharya (17 July 1906 – 19 January 1978) was an Indian actor from West Bengal associated with Bengali theatre and films. He was an eminent playwright and dramatist. Personal life Bhattacharya was born in 1906 at Faridpur (now in ...

and writer and activist

Mahashweta Devi Mahasweta Devi (14 January 1926 – 28 July 2016)
'' Kallol ''Kallol'' () refers to one of the most influential literary movements in Bengali literature, which can be placed approximately between 1923 and 1935. The name ''Kallol'' of the ''Kallol group'' derives from a magazine of the same name (which tra ...

'' era Manish Ghatak. Visionary filmmaker

Ritwik Ghatak Ritwik Kumar Ghatak (; 4 November 19256 February 1976) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, actor and playwright. Widely considered as one of the greatest film makers of all time, his works remained largely underrated and ignored during hi ...

was his great-uncle. His novel, ''Herbert'' (1993), was awarded the

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

and adapted into a film of the same name by

Suman Mukhopadhyay Suman Mukhopadhyay (), or Suman Mukherjee (born 20 November 1966) is an Indian film director.His popular films are Herbert (film), Kangal Malsat, Shesher Kobita (2014). Career Suman Mukhopadhyay's recently completed feature film "Putulnacher ...

in 2005. Bhattacharya regularly edited a literary magazine ''Bhashabandhan''. He was secretary of ''Ganasanskriti Parisad'', the cultural organization of CPIML Liberation.

Personal life

Bhattacharya studied in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, first Geology, then English, from

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

. Nabarun married Pranati Bhattacharya, who was a professor of political science.

Works

The characters called Fyataru

His

magic realist Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. ''Magical rea ...

writings introduced a strange set of human beings to Bengali readers, called '' Fyataru'' (fyat: the sound created by kites while they are flown; otherwise, fyat has also a hint of someone worthless, deriving from the words foto, faaltu; uru: related to flying), who are an anarchic underclass fond of sabotage who are also capable of flying whenever they utter the mantra fyat fyat sh(n)aai sh(n)aai''' (this mantra was later made into a song by the popular

bangla Bangla () may refer to: *Bengali language, an eastern Indo-Aryan language *The endonym of Bengal, a geographical and ethno-linguistic region in South Asia *''Bangla-'', a prefix indicating Bangladesh *West Bengal, a state in eastern India, also kn ...

band Chandrabindoo in one of its albums). They appear in his books ''Mausoleum'', ''Kaangaal Maalshaat'', ''Fatarur Bombachaak'', ''Fyatarur Kumbhipaak and Mobloge Novel''.

, who was basically from a theatrical background, dramatized ''Kaangaal Maalshaat'' in a movie of the same name. In 2019, a new English translation of ''Harbart'' was published by New Directions, reviewed for ''Words Without Borders'' by Arka Chattopadhyay. In 2020, Sourit Bhattacharya, Arka Chattopadhyay and Samrat Sengupta co-edited a Bloomsbury volume of Nabarun's short stories, poems, interviews and a set of critical articles on his works: ''Nabarun Bhattacharya: Aesthetics and Politics in a World after Ethics''.

Major works

* ''Kangal Malshat'' (কাঙাল মালসাট) (Hooghly: Saptarshi Prakashan, 2003) * ''Herbert'' (হারবার্ট) (Kolkata: Deys, 1994) * ''Lubdhak'' (লুব্ধক) (Barasat: Abhijan Publishers, 2006) * ''Ei Mrityu Upotyoka Aamaar Desh Na'' (এই মৃত্যু উপত্যকা আমার দেশ না) (Hooghly: Saptarshi, 2004) * ''Halaljhanda o Onyanyo'' (Hooghly: Saptarshi, 2009) * ''Mahajaaner Aayna'' (Kolkata: Bhashabandhan, 2010) * ''Fyaturur Kumbhipak'' (Kolkata: Bhashabandhan) * ''Raater Circus'' (রাতের সার্কাস) (Kolkata: Bhashabandhan) * ''Anarir Naarigyan'' (Kolkata: Bhashabandhan) * ''Joratali'' (জোড়াতালি) (Kolkata: Bhashabandhan, Posthumous) * ''Mablage Novel''(Kolkata:Bhashabandhan, Posthumous) *''Andho Biral'' (অন্ধ বিড়াল)

Death

Nabarun Bhattacharya died of

intestinal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

at Thakurpukur cancer hospital, Kolkata on 31 July 2014.

References

External links

* *
American Petromax (Hindi) – Nabarun Bhattacharya
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhattacharya, Nabarun 1948 births 2014 deaths Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Bengali Indian male novelists Writers from Kolkata Bengali-language novelists Bengali Hindus Indian magazine editors University of Calcutta alumni People from Baharampur 20th-century Indian novelists Novelists from West Bengal 21st-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian male writers Indian Hindus 21st-century Indian male writers Magic realism writers Ritwik Ghatak