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Malay Roy Choudhury | |
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মলয় রায়চৌধুরী | |
 Roy Choudhury inAmsterdam, 2009 | |
| Born | (1939-10-29)29 October 1939 |
| Died | 26 October 2023(2023-10-26) (aged 83) |
| Nationality |
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| Citizenship | Indian |
| Occupation(s) | Poet, writer and journalist |
| Years active | (1961–2023) |
| Movement | Postmodernism andHungryalism |
| Spouse | Shalila Roy Choudhury |
| Children |
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| Parents |
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| Relatives |
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| Family | Sabarna Roy Choudhury |
| Awards | Sahitya Akademi Award (2003; refused) |
| Signature | |
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Malay Roy Choudhury (29 October 1939 – 26 October 2023) was an IndianBengali poet, playwright, short story writer, essayist and novelist who founded theHungryalist movement in the 1960s.[1]
Malay Roy Choudhury was born inPatna, Bihar, India, into theSabarna Roy Choudhury clan, which owned the villages that becameKolkata. He grew up in Patna's Imlitala ghetto, which was mainly inhabited byDalit Hindus andShia Muslims. His was the only Bengali family. His father, Ranjit Roy Choudhury (1909–1991) was a photographer in Patna; his mother, Amita (1916–1982), was from a progressive family of the 19th-centuryBengali Renaissance. His grandfather,Laksmikanta Roy Choudhury, was a photographer in Kolkata who had been trained byRudyard Kipling's father, the curator of theLahore Museum.
At the age of three, Roy Choudhury was admitted to a local Catholic school, and later, he was sent to the Rammohan Roy SeminaryOriental Seminary. The school was administered by theBrahmo Samaj movement, amonotheistic religion founded in 1830 in Kolkata by Ram Mohun Roy, who aimed to purifyHinduism and recover the simple worship of theVedas. There, Roy Choudhury met student-cum-librarian Namita Chakraborty, who introduced him toSanskrit andBengali classics. All religious activities were banned at the school, and Roy Choudhury has said that his childhood experience made him instinctivelysecular.[2][3]
The Hungryalist movement was initially led by Malay; his brother,Samir Roychoudhury;Shakti Chattopadhyay; and Haradhon Dhara, known by his pseudonymDebi Roy. Thirty more poets and artists subsequently joined them, the best-known beingRajkamal Chaudhary,Binoy Majumdar, Utpal Kumar Basu,Falguni Roy,Subimal Basak,Tridib Mitra,Rabindra Guha, andAnil Karanjai. The movement's English name was derived fromGeoffrey Chaucer's line "in the sowre hungry tyme", and its philosophy was based onOswald Spengler's "The Decline of the West".[4]
Hungryalism petered out in 1965, when theWest Bengal government issued arrest warrants for eleven Hungryalists, including Roy Choudhury and his brother. Some members, such as Subhash Ghosh and Saileshwar Ghosh, testified against Roy Choudhury in Kolkata's Bankshall Court. He was jailed for a month for his poemStark Electric Jesus by KolkataBankshall Court in 1966. However he was exonerated by the Kolkata High Court in 1967. From the letters ofSunil Gangopadhyay written toSandipan Chattopadhyay during 1964 published recently it is known thatSunil Gangopadhyay felt thatHungry generation literary movement was a threat to hisKrittibas group of poets of 1950s.[5]
Howard McCord, a professor of English atWashington State University andBowling Green University who met Roy Choudhury during a visit to Kolkata, wrote inCity Lights Journal Number Three: "Malay Roy Choudhury, a Bengali poet, has been a central figure in the Hungry Generation's attack on the Indian cultural establishment since the movement began in the early 1960s. ... Acid, destructive, morbid, nihilistic, outrageous, mad, hallucinatory, shrill—these characterize the terrifying and cleansing visions" that "Indian literature must endure if it is to be vital again."
Both theBangla Academy andNorthwestern University have archives of Roy Choudhury's Hungryalist publications.
Roy Choudhury wrote three drama during theHungryalism movement:Illot,Napungpung andHibakusha, considered to be a mash-up of theTheatre of the Absurd andTranshumanism.
With his 1963 poem "Prachanda Baidyutik Chhutar" ("Stark Electric Jesus"), which prompted the government's actions against the Hungryalists, Roy Choudhury introducedConfessional poetry to Bengali literature. The poem defied traditional forms (e.g.,sonnet,villanelle,minnesang,pastourelle,canzone, etc.), as well as Bengalimeters (e.g., matrabritto and aksharbritto). His poem "Jakham" is better known and has been translated into multiple languages.
His best-known poetry collections areMedhar Batanukul Ghungur,Naamgandho, andIllot, and a complete collection of his poems was published in 2005. He has written about 60 books since he launched the Hungryalist movement in November 1961.
Roy Choudhury also translated intoBengali works byWilliam Blake ("The Marriage of Heaven and Hell"),Arthur Rimbaud ("A Season in Hell"),Tristan Tzara (Dada manifestos and poems),André Breton'sSurrealism manifesto and poems,Jean Cocteau ("Crucifixion"),Blaise Cendrars ("Trans-Siberian Express"), andAllen Ginsberg ("Howl" and "Kaddish"). He has also translatedPaul Celan's famous poem "Death Fugue".
Roy Choudhury wrote extensively on the life and works ofAllen Ginsberg,Henry Miller,James Joyce,Charles Baudelaire,Jean Arthur Rimbaud,Osip Mandelstam,Marcel Proust andAnna Akhmatova.
In 2003, he was given theSahitya Academy award, the Indian government's highest honour in the field, for translatingDharamvir Bharati'sSuraj Ka Satwan Ghora.[6] However, he declined to accept this award and others.
In 1995, Roy Choudhury's writings, both poetry and fiction, took a dramatic turn. A linguist,Probal Dasgupta, dubbed this the Adhunantika Phase (Bengali: অধুনান্তিক পর্ব), aportmanteau of two Bengali words:adhuna, meaning "new", "current", "contemporary", or "modern", andantika, meaning "closure", "end", "extreme", or "beyond". His poetry collections from this phase areChitkar Samagra, Chhatrakhan, Ja Lagbey Bolben, Atmadhangser Sahasrabda, Postmodern Ahlader Kobita, andKounaper Luchimangso. His novels from the period includeNamgandho, Jalanjali, Nakhadanta, Ei Adham Oi Adham, andArup Tomar Entokanta.
During this phase Roy Choudhury wrote several poetic dramas which were a mash-up ofPostmodernism andTranshumanism.
After Roy Choudhury shifted to Mumbai from Calcutta he ventured intoMagic realism and wrote novels such asLabiyar Makdi,Chashomranger Locha,Thek Shuturmurg,Jungle Romio,Necropurush andNaromangshokadhoker Halnagad.
In 2014 Roy Choudhury wrote his autobiography in his distinct style titledRahuketu.
Roy Choudhury lived inMumbai with his wife, Shalila, who was afield hockey player fromNagpur. Their daughter, Anushree Prashant, lives inDubai with her husband and two daughters; his son Jitendra lives inRiyadh with his wife Sudipta.
Roy Choudhury died on 26 October 2023, at the age of 83.[7]
A 2014 film based on Roy Choudhury's poemStark Electric Jesus was directed by Mrigankasekhar Ganguly and Hyash Tanmoy. It was an official selection at 20 international film festivals in 15 countries. The film won "Best Video Art" in Poland, "Most Promising Video Artist" in Spain, and "Best Fantasy Film" in Serbia.[8][9][10]
Srijit Mukherji directed a film in 2011 titledBaishe Srabon, in which Roy Choudhury's poetry was used many times.
English
Stark Electric Jesus, with introduction by Howard McCord, Tribal Press, Washington DC, 1965.
Autobiography, CAAS #14 and 215, Gale Research Inc., Ohio, 1980.
Selected Poems, with introduction by P. Lal, Writers Workshop, Kolkata, 1989.
Hattali (long poem), Mahadiganta Publishers, Kolkata, 1989.
Overview: Postmodern Bangla Poetry (non-fiction), Haowa 49 Publishers, Kolkata, 2001.
Overview: Postmodern Bangla Short Stories (non-fiction), Haowa 49 Publishers, Kolkata, 2001.
Bengali
Shoytaner Mukh (Collected Poems), Krittibas Prakashani, Kolkata, 1963.
Hungry Andoloner Kavyadarshan (Hungryalist Manifesto), Debi Ray, Howrah, 1965.
Jakham (long poem), Zebra Publications, Kolkata, 1966.
Kabita Sankalan (collection of Hungryalist poems), Mahadiganta Publishers, Kolkata, 1986.
Chitkarsamagra (postmodern poems), Kabita Pakshik, Kolkata, 1995.
Chhatrakhan (postmodern poems), Kabitirtha Publishers, Kolkata, 1995.
Allen Ginsberg's Kaddish (translation), Kabitirtha Publishers, Kolkata, 1995.
Ja Lagbey Bolben (postmodern poems), Kaurab Prakashani, Jamshedpur, 1996.
Tristan Tzara's Poems (translation), Kalimati Publishers, Jamshedpur, 1996.
Allen Ginsberg's Howl (translation), Kabita Pakshik, Kolkata, 1996.
Jean Cocteau's Cricifixion (translation), Kabita Pakshik, Kolkata, 1996.
Blaise Cendrar's Trans-Siberian Express (translation), Amritalok Prakashani, Midnapur, 1997.
A (deconstruction of 23 poems), Kabita Pakshik, Kolkata, 1998.
Autobiography of Paul Gauguin (translation), Graffiti Publishers, Kolkata, 1999.
Jean Arthur Rimbaud (critique), Kabitirtha Publishers, Kolkata, 1999.
Life of Allen Ginsberg (non-fiction), Kabitirtha Prakashani, Kolkata, 2000.
Atmadhangsher Sahasrabda (collected poems), Graffiti Publishers, Kolkata, 2000.
Bhennogalpo (collection of postmodern short stories), Dibaratrir Kavya, Kolkata, 1996.
Dubjaley Jetuku Prashwas (novel), Haowa 49 Publishers, 1994.
Jalanjali (novel), Raktakarabi Publishers, Kolkata, 1996.
Naamgandho (novel), Sahana Publishers, Dhaka, 1999.
Natoksamagra (collection of plays), Kabitirtha Prakashani, Kolkata, 1998.
Hungry Kimvadanti (Hungryalist memoir), Dey Books, Kolkata, 1994.
Postmodernism (non-fiction), Haowa#49 Publishers, Kolkata, 1995.
Adhunikatar Biruddhey Kathavatra (non-fiction), Kabita Pakshik, Kolkata, 1999.
Hungryalist Interviews (edited by Ajit Ray), Mahadiganta Publishers, Kolkata, 1999.
Postmodern Kalkhando O Bangalir Patan (non-fiction), Khanan Publishers, Nagpur, 2000.
Ei Adham Oi Adham (novel), Kabitirtha Publishers, Kolkata, 2001.
Nakhadanta (postmodern novel), Haowa 49 Publishers, Kolkata, 2001.
Poems: 2004-1961 (collection of poems), Avishkar Prakashani, Kolkata, 2005.
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