Author: Bibhutibhusan Bandyopadhyay
Translator(s): T W Clark / Tarapada Mukherji
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 1999/2005
Language: English
Pages: 360
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8172233337
Description
A remarkable masterpiece, this work is acknowledged as one of the greatest Bengali novels ever written. The story has been portrayed by widely acclaimed film directed by Satyajit Ray.
Pather Panchali is a vivid, moving and authentic portrayal of the life of a Brahmin household seen through the eyes of the two young children of the family, Opu and his elder sister Durga. Few authors in any literature can rival Bandopadhyay's understanding of the child mind.
The social environment is all-embracing: Work and holidays, religious festivals, daily worship and the grim rites of death. The reader senses the reality of family ties, the power of the supernatural in ordinary things, the relations between the castes and between rich and poor.
The translation, which faithfully reflects the changing moods of the original as well as its many variations of style, is the work of T W Clark and Tarapada Mukherji, both teachers of Bengali at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London.