A Novel
Meenakshi Mukherjee
AMI ANUPAM (I, ANUPAM: A BENGALI NOVEL) by Nabaneeta Dev Sen Ishan Publishers, Calcutta, 1979, 180 pp., 8.00
Jan-Feb 1979, volume 3, No 4

This is the first novel of a writer who has so far been well known to Bengali readers as a poet. But her novel is not poetic in the usual sense of the term.

In a style that is cerebral as well as graceful, Nabaneeta Deb Sen writes of a situation uneasily familiar to most of us—the conflict between integrity and expediency. This is done not in terms of simple statement, but is concretized in a situation that has all the unedited and unexpurgated complexity of real life. Con­trary to current expectations, her protago­nist is neither a common man nor an anti-hero, but a brilliant academic who has succeeded in everything he has done so far. Anupam Roy at the height of his career is a national figure whose weekly broadcast and newspaper column of poe­tical analysis influences public opinion and sparks off controversies. He is respec­ted not only for his intellect and fearless views, but also because he has refused many lucrative high level jobs in order to maintain his intellectual independence.

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