• TABLE OF CONTENT
    • the dreaming machine – issue number 16
    • the dreaming machine – issue number 15
    • the dreaming machine – issue number 14
    • the dreaming machine – issue number 13
    • the dreaming machine – issue number 12
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 11
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 10
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 9
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 8
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 7
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 6
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 5
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 4
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 3
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 2
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 1
  • THE DREAMING MACHINE
    • The dreaming machine n 16
    • The dreaming machine n 15
    • The dreaming machine n 14
    • The dreaming machine n 13
    • The dreaming machine n 12
    • The dreaming machine n 11
    • The dreaming machine n 10
    • The dreaming machine n 9
    • The dreaming machine n 8
    • The dreaming machine n 7
    • The dreaming machine n 6
    • The dreaming machine n 5
    • The dreaming machine n 4
    • The dreaming machine n 3
    • The dreaming machine n 2
    • The dreaming machine n 1
  • CONTACT
No Result
View All Result
The Dreaming Machine
  • Home
  • Poetry
    The God of Submission Loves Gentle Calves and Other Poems –  Yuliya Musakovska

    The God of Submission Loves Gentle Calves and Other Poems – Yuliya Musakovska

    Calixto Robles and Ancestral Spirits in the Mission – A Conversation on Art, Society and Social Action

    Hence, the walruses will keep our memories – Poems from Ikaro Valderrama’s Tengri: The Book of Mysteries

    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    “When Crimea Was Not a Grief”: Six Poems by Lyudmyla Khersonska, from 21st Century Ukraine

    Of Hunger and Tents: Poems from Gaza by Yousef el-Qedra

    Of Hunger and Tents: Poems from Gaza by Yousef el-Qedra

    Ratko Lalić’s painting, a little Noah’s ark –  Božidar Stanišić  

    The region suddenly turned into a deciduous forest. Poems by Paulami Sengupta

    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    A False Dimension: regarding the empty walls – Aritra Sanyal

  • Fiction
    The Spanish Steps, Revisited: A Temporary Exhibition – A conversation with Sheila Pepe

    The Importance of Being Imperfect – Haroonuzzaman

    THE STATE – Hamim Faruque

    THE STATE – Hamim Faruque

    Tempus Fugit (in D Minor) – Michele Carenini

    Tempus Fugit (in D Minor) – Michele Carenini

    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    A Mirage of a Dream – Kazi Rafi

    Prologue to “Maya and the World of the Spirits” – Gaius Tsaamo

    Prologue to “Maya and the World of the Spirits” – Gaius Tsaamo

    RETRIBUTION – Mojaffor Hossain

    RETRIBUTION – Mojaffor Hossain

    A Nation’s Reckoning on a Rickshaw: Photogallery from Bangladesh in turmoil – Melina and Pina Piccolo

    Between Two Lives – Mojaffor Hossain

    A Nation’s Reckoning on a Rickshaw: Photogallery from Bangladesh in turmoil – Melina and Pina Piccolo

    The Amatory Rainy Night – Kazi Rafi

    Chapter 1 of “Come What May”, a detective story set in Gaza, by Ahmed Masoud

    Come What May, chpt. 11 – Ahmed Masoud

  • Non Fiction
    I AM STILL HERE: It’s not a movie, it’s a hymn to democracy – Loretta Emiri

    I AM STILL HERE: It’s not a movie, it’s a hymn to democracy – Loretta Emiri

    Requiem for a Mattanza – Gia Marie Amella

    Requiem for a Mattanza – Gia Marie Amella

    In Defense of T.C. Boyle: Satire in the Era of Psychological Realism – Clark Bouwman

    In Defense of T.C. Boyle: Satire in the Era of Psychological Realism – Clark Bouwman

    Calixto Robles and Ancestral Spirits in the Mission – A Conversation on Art, Society and Social Action

    That is the Face – Appadurai Muttulingam

    Langston Hughes: Shakespeare in Harlem – Barry David Horwitz

    Langston Hughes: Shakespeare in Harlem – Barry David Horwitz

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    Understanding the Quintessential Divinity: Binding the Two Geographies – Haroonuzzaman

  • Interviews & reviews
    Michelle Reale’s Volta: An Italian-American Reckoning With Race. Necessary turnabouts as  Columbus Day returns amidst Sinners’ vampires – Pina Piccolo

    Michelle Reale’s Volta: An Italian-American Reckoning With Race. Necessary turnabouts as Columbus Day returns amidst Sinners’ vampires – Pina Piccolo

    from The Creative Process: The Future of activism.  Bayo Akomolafe interviewed by Mia Funk and Natalie McCarthy

    from The Creative Process: The Future of activism. Bayo Akomolafe interviewed by Mia Funk and Natalie McCarthy

    The Spanish Steps, Revisited: A Temporary Exhibition – A conversation with Sheila Pepe

    The Spanish Steps, Revisited: A Temporary Exhibition – A conversation with Sheila Pepe

    from The Creative Process: A Life in Writing with T.C. Boyle, interviewed by Mia Funk & Cary Trott

    from The Creative Process: A Life in Writing with T.C. Boyle, interviewed by Mia Funk & Cary Trott

    Living as a painter: Shaun McDowell in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    Living as a painter: Shaun McDowell in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    Calixto Robles and Ancestral Spirits in the Mission – A Conversation on Art, Society and Social Action

    Calixto Robles and Ancestral Spirits in the Mission – A Conversation on Art, Society and Social Action

  • Out of bounds
    • All
    • Fiction
    • Intersections
    • Interviews and reviews
    • Non fiction
    • Poetry
    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    Area Sacra at Torre di Largo Argentina —or, Calpurnia’s Dream – Laura Hinton

    from The Creative Process: TIOKASIN GHOSTHORSE, interviewed by Mia Funk and Melannie Munoz

    from The Creative Process: TIOKASIN GHOSTHORSE, interviewed by Mia Funk and Melannie Munoz

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    From The Stony Guests, Part IV: SIRAN BAKIRCI and SAIT B. KARAKAYA – Neil P. Doherty

    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    Chaos Theory – Michele Carenini

    Of People and Puppets, Kingdoms of Silence, Trauma and Storytelling: Review of “Azad, the rabbit and the wolf – Pina Piccolo

    Of People and Puppets, Kingdoms of Silence, Trauma and Storytelling: Review of “Azad, the rabbit and the wolf – Pina Piccolo

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    Poetry is also born from Gesture – Ikaro Valderrama on Gestos de la Poesia, transnational poetry, multimedia and the energy of the Andes

    Poetry is also born from Gesture – Ikaro Valderrama on Gestos de la Poesia, transnational poetry, multimedia and the energy of the Andes

    A loneliness like an endless steppe – Poems from Maria Luisa Vezzali’s collection Home Ghost

    A loneliness like an endless steppe – Poems from Maria Luisa Vezzali’s collection Home Ghost

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    Once the veil of artifice falls away: Poems by Haroonuzzaman

  • News
    Memorial Reading Marathon for Julio Monteiro Martins, Dec. 27, zoom live

    Memorial Reading Marathon for Julio Monteiro Martins, Dec. 27, zoom live

    PER/FORMATIVE CITIES

    PER/FORMATIVE CITIES

    HAIR IN THE WIND – Calling on poets to join international project in solidarity with the women of Iran

    HAIR IN THE WIND – Calling on poets to join international project in solidarity with the women of Iran

    THE DREAMING MACHINE ISSUE N. 11 WILL BE OUT ON DEC. 10

    THE DREAMING MACHINE ISSUE N. 11 WILL BE OUT ON DEC. 10

    RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT

    RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT

    REFUGEE TALES July 3-5:  Register for a Walk In Solidarity with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees

    REFUGEE TALES July 3-5: Register for a Walk In Solidarity with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees

  • Home
  • Poetry
    The God of Submission Loves Gentle Calves and Other Poems –  Yuliya Musakovska

    The God of Submission Loves Gentle Calves and Other Poems – Yuliya Musakovska

    Calixto Robles and Ancestral Spirits in the Mission – A Conversation on Art, Society and Social Action

    Hence, the walruses will keep our memories – Poems from Ikaro Valderrama’s Tengri: The Book of Mysteries

    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    “When Crimea Was Not a Grief”: Six Poems by Lyudmyla Khersonska, from 21st Century Ukraine

    Of Hunger and Tents: Poems from Gaza by Yousef el-Qedra

    Of Hunger and Tents: Poems from Gaza by Yousef el-Qedra

    Ratko Lalić’s painting, a little Noah’s ark –  Božidar Stanišić  

    The region suddenly turned into a deciduous forest. Poems by Paulami Sengupta

    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    A False Dimension: regarding the empty walls – Aritra Sanyal

  • Fiction
    The Spanish Steps, Revisited: A Temporary Exhibition – A conversation with Sheila Pepe

    The Importance of Being Imperfect – Haroonuzzaman

    THE STATE – Hamim Faruque

    THE STATE – Hamim Faruque

    Tempus Fugit (in D Minor) – Michele Carenini

    Tempus Fugit (in D Minor) – Michele Carenini

    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    A Mirage of a Dream – Kazi Rafi

    Prologue to “Maya and the World of the Spirits” – Gaius Tsaamo

    Prologue to “Maya and the World of the Spirits” – Gaius Tsaamo

    RETRIBUTION – Mojaffor Hossain

    RETRIBUTION – Mojaffor Hossain

    A Nation’s Reckoning on a Rickshaw: Photogallery from Bangladesh in turmoil – Melina and Pina Piccolo

    Between Two Lives – Mojaffor Hossain

    A Nation’s Reckoning on a Rickshaw: Photogallery from Bangladesh in turmoil – Melina and Pina Piccolo

    The Amatory Rainy Night – Kazi Rafi

    Chapter 1 of “Come What May”, a detective story set in Gaza, by Ahmed Masoud

    Come What May, chpt. 11 – Ahmed Masoud

  • Non Fiction
    I AM STILL HERE: It’s not a movie, it’s a hymn to democracy – Loretta Emiri

    I AM STILL HERE: It’s not a movie, it’s a hymn to democracy – Loretta Emiri

    Requiem for a Mattanza – Gia Marie Amella

    Requiem for a Mattanza – Gia Marie Amella

    In Defense of T.C. Boyle: Satire in the Era of Psychological Realism – Clark Bouwman

    In Defense of T.C. Boyle: Satire in the Era of Psychological Realism – Clark Bouwman

    Calixto Robles and Ancestral Spirits in the Mission – A Conversation on Art, Society and Social Action

    That is the Face – Appadurai Muttulingam

    Langston Hughes: Shakespeare in Harlem – Barry David Horwitz

    Langston Hughes: Shakespeare in Harlem – Barry David Horwitz

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    Understanding the Quintessential Divinity: Binding the Two Geographies – Haroonuzzaman

  • Interviews & reviews
    Michelle Reale’s Volta: An Italian-American Reckoning With Race. Necessary turnabouts as  Columbus Day returns amidst Sinners’ vampires – Pina Piccolo

    Michelle Reale’s Volta: An Italian-American Reckoning With Race. Necessary turnabouts as Columbus Day returns amidst Sinners’ vampires – Pina Piccolo

    from The Creative Process: The Future of activism.  Bayo Akomolafe interviewed by Mia Funk and Natalie McCarthy

    from The Creative Process: The Future of activism. Bayo Akomolafe interviewed by Mia Funk and Natalie McCarthy

    The Spanish Steps, Revisited: A Temporary Exhibition – A conversation with Sheila Pepe

    The Spanish Steps, Revisited: A Temporary Exhibition – A conversation with Sheila Pepe

    from The Creative Process: A Life in Writing with T.C. Boyle, interviewed by Mia Funk & Cary Trott

    from The Creative Process: A Life in Writing with T.C. Boyle, interviewed by Mia Funk & Cary Trott

    Living as a painter: Shaun McDowell in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    Living as a painter: Shaun McDowell in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    Calixto Robles and Ancestral Spirits in the Mission – A Conversation on Art, Society and Social Action

    Calixto Robles and Ancestral Spirits in the Mission – A Conversation on Art, Society and Social Action

  • Out of bounds
    • All
    • Fiction
    • Intersections
    • Interviews and reviews
    • Non fiction
    • Poetry
    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    Area Sacra at Torre di Largo Argentina —or, Calpurnia’s Dream – Laura Hinton

    from The Creative Process: TIOKASIN GHOSTHORSE, interviewed by Mia Funk and Melannie Munoz

    from The Creative Process: TIOKASIN GHOSTHORSE, interviewed by Mia Funk and Melannie Munoz

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    From The Stony Guests, Part IV: SIRAN BAKIRCI and SAIT B. KARAKAYA – Neil P. Doherty

    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    Chaos Theory – Michele Carenini

    Of People and Puppets, Kingdoms of Silence, Trauma and Storytelling: Review of “Azad, the rabbit and the wolf – Pina Piccolo

    Of People and Puppets, Kingdoms of Silence, Trauma and Storytelling: Review of “Azad, the rabbit and the wolf – Pina Piccolo

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    Poetry is also born from Gesture – Ikaro Valderrama on Gestos de la Poesia, transnational poetry, multimedia and the energy of the Andes

    Poetry is also born from Gesture – Ikaro Valderrama on Gestos de la Poesia, transnational poetry, multimedia and the energy of the Andes

    A loneliness like an endless steppe – Poems from Maria Luisa Vezzali’s collection Home Ghost

    A loneliness like an endless steppe – Poems from Maria Luisa Vezzali’s collection Home Ghost

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    Once the veil of artifice falls away: Poems by Haroonuzzaman

  • News
    Memorial Reading Marathon for Julio Monteiro Martins, Dec. 27, zoom live

    Memorial Reading Marathon for Julio Monteiro Martins, Dec. 27, zoom live

    PER/FORMATIVE CITIES

    PER/FORMATIVE CITIES

    HAIR IN THE WIND – Calling on poets to join international project in solidarity with the women of Iran

    HAIR IN THE WIND – Calling on poets to join international project in solidarity with the women of Iran

    THE DREAMING MACHINE ISSUE N. 11 WILL BE OUT ON DEC. 10

    THE DREAMING MACHINE ISSUE N. 11 WILL BE OUT ON DEC. 10

    RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT

    RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT

    REFUGEE TALES July 3-5:  Register for a Walk In Solidarity with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees

    REFUGEE TALES July 3-5: Register for a Walk In Solidarity with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees

No Result
View All Result
The Dreaming Machine
No Result
View All Result
Home Non Fiction

Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal

With accompanying photo gallery of shots from the Kolkata region taken by the author.

May 1, 2018
in Non Fiction, The dreaming machine n 2
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Zero: Circle without a Centre – The generation of poets writing in Bengali after 2000, by Aritra Sanyal
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

 

Presumably, asking a question about the ‘problem of writing’ is the easiest possible way to decode the literature of an age, go deeper into an understanding of how different, basically and minutely, it is from the same practised in previous ages. Unfortunately, this very question loses its distinction when one goes to discuss the works of the poets writing in Bengali after the millennium (in West Bengal the generation is called ‘Shunya’ which means Zero, arguably the term refers to the too many zeros in the number 2000). This number in no way suggests that the poets of the decade are effortlessly creating history; rather, simply that no other generation in Bengali literature has fallen prey to the consequence of the inevitable development in everything that influences a person’s sense of reality. Climate changes, the changing socioeconomic scenario, moral codes, ethos, the changing sense of privacy that includes the abundance of knowledge acquired through social media and virtual world together give birth to a significantly different perception of what is real and what is more real. It will be a naïve decision to blame Globalisation only for this complexity, but one has to admit it has a major role to play in the insistence that today, there remains no single Reality for all anymore, everyone has his or her versions of it.

So many worlds converge in the single one, and a poet pursues his or her close reading of their own time. There is no denying of the fact that there are several timelines flowing through the Zero decade. What may be considered the ‘problem of writing’ for one fiercely experimental Anupam Mukhopadhyay, may mean nothing to Himalaya Jana whose expressions are spine-chillingly nonchalant: what one certain Anuradha Biswas tries to achieve through her gorgeous pessimism, may really not exist for the sharp brilliance of Indranil Ghosh. The sheer fact that they co-exist in this phase puts Anindita Gupta Roy with her dark contemplative writings, Raka Dasgupta with her smart, crispy expressions, Animikh Patra with his dynamic frenzy, Ritam Sen with his overwhelmingly lyrical power in the same bracket. On the surface level they are way different from each other. It seems as if there is no centre in the form of a basic crisis that the poets of this time can address. It seems there can be nothing any two of them can share. They are the same batch and this has never happened before.

 

 

W.H Auden’s famous dictum, ‘Poetry makes nothing happen’ points directly towards the lack of material utility of writing poetry in today’s world. Though Auden’s line appeared in his elegy for W.B Yeats in 1939, unfortunately it never ceased to be relevant. In 2002, Robert Creeley in his introduction to the Selected Poems of George Oppen (1908-84) quotes it to highlight a general tendency of the market-regulated world; that is to give a cold shoulder to poetry. (“…no one finally knows what a poet is supposed either to be or to do. Especially in this country, one takes on the job – because all that one does in America is considered a “job”…”) Having said all that, one has to admit that there can be no logical explanation how poetry, as genre itself, without the minimum support in the form of acceptability among book buyers in market, has managed not only to survive but to generate an ever-burgeoning number of people to write poetry in Bengali down the ages. Because, like rest of the world, College Street, the state’s largest book-market that, of course, basically thrives on the text-book business, sells Novels and Fiction, more than anything related to poetry. What then, is the real cause of the situation where the people writing poetry in Bengali, a regional language in India, can easily outnumber the poets all the rest of the country has produced? Tagore undeniably remains the greatest poet the language has ever had; but it is also true that the obsession for poetry prevalent in the culture today hardly owes anything to his global recognition and fame. It is, arguably, the poets of 1950s – Sunil Gangopadhyay, Shakti Chattopadhyay and others, the editors of Krittibas, an iconic little magazine, who brought a paradigmatic shift in the lifestyle of a poet and a poet’s style of writing. Their correspondence with the Beat generation poets, Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky, helped the poetry of Bengal cross boundaries once again. The decades following it saw some major changes in the expression of poetry. Though there were exceptions, the general characterization of the poetry of 1950s has to include adjectives like – flamboyant, effervescent, energetic. It is so probably because it responded to the social changes in the post independence era in the country. The focus of poetry changed in the next decade, and so on.

The decade-wise division of poets is designed primarily for discussions like this one, aimed at achieving an overview of the general tendency in writing of an age. Though the passing of a decade does not necessarily come with a guarantee of the total change in the perception of poetry, such division never disappoints, given that what world poetry is influenced by never remains the same. Time, as it appears now, runs faster than ever, the size of the world shrinks day by day; the meaning of space becomes more and more intangible. The boom in the technological arena is making the world every living organism or mechanism experience take a reboot. This unprecedented process of change could have left the poets edgy, restless and could have made them write shallow stuff. It is true that the poets now, generally speaking, are restless but fortunately what they write is more sincere than what the previous generation of poets, the 1990’s, wrote.

The 1960’s had a common vein of placid reclusion, the major figure of the decade – Bhaskar Chakrabarty injected an incurable attitude of self pity in Bengali poetry, that of a sickly, weak, diminutive man who relentlessly smiles at the dismal side of a hopeless life. The Zero generation inherited this. And they inherited the blooming that Bengali literature experienced in the 1970’s. The greatest thing that could have happened with the first batch of poets of the millennium is that no big establishment, magazine or publishing house, could pet any of the major ones of the generation. Poetry cut a sorry figure in 1990’s. It was a major let down in the sense most of the poets of the decade lacked voices of their own, and therefore no ways for them were left, other than writing homogeneously peppy poems and huddling up for a place in commercial magazine. The overpowering presence of social media worked as a great boost for the poets who were already trying to rethink and revamp the age old system of publication. The advent of a number of online magazines, which struck the chief commercial literary supplement off its pedestal, ended an era of hegemony. Sanghamitra Haldar, a marvelous poet with a one-of-its-kind voice herself, edits an internet based magazine, Duniyadaari. Indranil Ghosh co edits Indiaree, and Anupam Mukhopadhyay is the chief editor of hugely popular webzine Baak. The precursor in this case of course is Kaurab online, which was once a cult magazine of 1970’s,  and went on to become active in hosting a gallery of Indian and international poets, mainly online.

The freedom that social media fetches does come with a cost, and what might have once seemed a blessing for budding poets appears not to be such a thing today. Absolute absence of censorship in a world where most of the poets manage self-publication, of course, has empowered the rebel who tries to demolish the standards of high literature, but the general quality has suffered a lot. This is one of the reasons why making any general comment on the Zero decade becomes more of a task. There is a bold poet like Arnab Roy, who does not care for any ceremonious arrangement for poetry, and bravely leaves his heart exposed to a corrosive feeling of loss; then there is a bold poet like Swagata Dasgupta, whose poems are layered, on the surface level, they seem to resound ferociously feminist, on the deeper level they deftly merge what is not so poetic with what we mean by poetry. There is a bold poet like Souva Chattopadhyay who has repeatedly changed his trajectory in his poetic journey; he went on to become experimentally traditional from being traditionally experimental. Then there is Rangit Mitra, his endless jugglery with random images often implodes into newer meanings of the things he writes about, Paulami Sengupta, whose laconic poems with abrupt ends convey a jittery life we are nowadays familiar with, Pushpanjana Karmakar, the only poet writing in English tries to resolve the relationship between the language she writes in and the language she was born into.

Reality, if there is a single one, is probably exploding for all of the fifteen poets of this generation. They all fumble through darkness to get to the full picture. Zero, as can be seen, is a circle without a centre. And finally one can conclude that there is a ‘problem of writing’ for this generation, i.e., the search for the centre.

 

Aritra Sanyal is a poet, translator, researcher, and an ex-sports journalist who presently works as a teacher of English language in a school in West Bengal, India. He is a doctoral candidate at Assam University focusing on the novels of Amitav Ghosh. Earlier he worked as a research fellow in University of Calcutta under the supervision of Prof Chinmoy Guha in a major research project: Impact of France on the 19th an early 20th Century Bengali Literature. He is the author three books of poetry. Forthcoming is Ekta Bahu Purano Nei (An Old Absence) from Pathak Press, Calcutta.

 

 

 

 

The Dreaming Machine is proud to publish a 2 part series dedicated to the work of young West Bengali poets, a project launched by poet and critic Aritra Sanyal. In this issue, Part I

 

On the Wings of Young Bengali Poets- Part I, edited by Aritra Sanyal

Tags: Artitra SanyalBengali poetryglobalizationPoetryrealitysearch for the centretechnologyzero generation Bengali poets
Next Post
Lina and her family, by Marina Sorina

Lina and her family, by Marina Sorina

The Dreaming Machine

Writing and visual arts from the world.

Poem in time of war, 2006 Part II – Anita Barrows
Poetry

Poem in time of war, 2006 Part II – Anita Barrows

Poem in time of war, 2006   1   She reaches in sleep for her brother’s hand Her small fingers ...

May 1, 2018
Between past and present – Photo gallery and poems by Nicoletta Lofoco
Poetry

Yesterday I picked up the cries of cats and children – Poems by Samira Albouzedi

1 I'm just a girl from Tripoli Naive and sometimes wicked I let half of my friends burn in my ...

April 30, 2021
brethfest: tribute to bill bissett on his 80th birthday (Part I) – Intro by Adeena Karasick, writings by MLA Chernoff, Steve Clay and Lance Strate
Fiction

Baptist Camp, by Carolyn Miller

    The Baptist Camp was way back in the country, on Highway T, out past Buckhorn and Deerlick, down ...

November 29, 2019
LAUNCHING PAPER BOATS OF HOPE: Five Poems by Halyna Kruk
Poetry

LAUNCHING PAPER BOATS OF HOPE: Five Poems by Halyna Kruk

These poems were originally published in Italian translation by Alessandro Achilli and Yarina Grusha Possamai in the anthology Poeti d'Ucraina, ...

December 8, 2023
Adeena Karasick, Warren Lehrer and William Lessard in conversation about Ouvert Oeuvre: Openings
Interviews and reviews

Adeena Karasick, Warren Lehrer and William Lessard in conversation about Ouvert Oeuvre: Openings

Republished from Openings: William Lessard Interviews Adeena Karasick and Warren Lehrer, which appeared in Heavy Feather Review, images taken from ...

May 2, 2024

Latest

Michelle Reale’s Volta: An Italian-American Reckoning With Race. Necessary turnabouts as  Columbus Day returns amidst Sinners’ vampires – Pina Piccolo

Michelle Reale’s Volta: An Italian-American Reckoning With Race. Necessary turnabouts as Columbus Day returns amidst Sinners’ vampires – Pina Piccolo

May 6, 2025
Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

Area Sacra at Torre di Largo Argentina —or, Calpurnia’s Dream – Laura Hinton

May 5, 2025
The Spanish Steps, Revisited: A Temporary Exhibition – A conversation with Sheila Pepe

The Importance of Being Imperfect – Haroonuzzaman

May 5, 2025
from The Creative Process: TIOKASIN GHOSTHORSE, interviewed by Mia Funk and Melannie Munoz

from The Creative Process: TIOKASIN GHOSTHORSE, interviewed by Mia Funk and Melannie Munoz

May 4, 2025

Follow Us

news

Memorial Reading Marathon for Julio Monteiro Martins, Dec. 27, zoom live
News

Memorial Reading Marathon for Julio Monteiro Martins, Dec. 27, zoom live

by Pina Piccolo
7 months ago
0

December 24, 2024 marks ten years since the premature passing of Brazilian/Italian writer Julio Monteiro Martins, important cultural figure from...

Read moreDetails
  • TABLE OF CONTENT
  • THE DREAMING MACHINE
  • CONTACT

© 2024 thedreamingmachine.com - Privacy policy - Cookie policy

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Poetry
  • Fiction
  • Non Fiction
  • Interviews and reviews
  • Out of bounds
    • Poetry
    • Fiction
    • Intersections
  • THE DREAMING MACHINE
    • The dreaming machine n 16
    • The dreaming machine n 15
    • The dreaming machine n 14
    • The dreaming machine n 13
    • The dreaming machine n 12
    • The dreaming machine n 11
    • The dreaming machine n 10
    • The dreaming machine n 9
    • The dreaming machine n 8
    • The dreaming machine n 7
    • The dreaming machine n 6
    • The dreaming machine n 5
    • The dreaming machine n 4
    • The dreaming machine n 3
    • The dreaming machine n 2
    • The dreaming machine n 1
  • TABLE OF CONTENTS
    • the dreaming machine – issue number 16
    • the dreaming machine – issue number 15
    • the dreaming machine – issue number 14
    • the dreaming machine – issue number 13
    • the dreaming machine – issue number 12
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 11
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 10
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 9
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 8
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 7
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 6
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 5
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 4
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 3
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 2
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 1
  • News
  • Contacts

© 2024 thedreamingmachine.com - Privacy policy - Cookie policy