1.
Novelist
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A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, Novelists come from a variety of backgrounds and social classes, and frequently this shapes the content of their works. Similarly, some novelists have creative identities derived from their focus on different genres of fiction, such as crime, while many novelists compose fiction to satisfy personal desires, novelists and commentators often ascribe a particular social responsibility or role to novel writers. Many authors use such moral imperatives to justify different approaches to writing, including activism or different approaches to representing reality truthfully. Novelist is a derivative from the term novel describing the writer of novels. However, the OED attributes the primary meaning of a writer of novels as first appearing in the 1633 book East-India Colation by C. The difference between professional and amateur novelists often is the ability to publish. Many people take up writing as a hobby, but the difficulties of completing large scale fictional works of quality prevent the completion of novels. Once authors have completed a novel, they often try to get it published. The publishing industry requires novels to have accessible profitable markets, thus many novelists will self-publish to circumvent the editorial control of publishers, self-publishing has long been an option for writers, with vanity presses printing bound books for a fee paid by the writer. The rise of the Internet and electronic books has made self publishing far less expensive, Novelists apply a number of different methods to writing their novels, relying on a variety of approaches to inspire creativity. Some communities actively encourage amateurs to practice writing novels to develop these unique practices, for example, the internet-based group, National Novel Writing Month, encourages people to write 50, 000-word novels in the month of November, to give novelists practice completing such works. In the 2010 event, over 200,000 people took part – writing a total of over 2.8 billion words, Novelists dont usually publish their first novels until later in life. However, many novelists begin writing at a young age, for example, Iain Banks began writing at eleven, and at sixteen completed his first novel, The Hungarian Lift-Jet, about international arms dealers, in pencil in a larger-than-foolscap log book. However, he was thirty before he published his first novel, the success of this novel enabled Banks to become a full-time novelist. Occasionally, novelists publish as early as their teens, for example, Patrick OBrian published his first novel, Caesar, The Life Story of a Panda-Leopard, at the age of 15, which brought him considerable critical attention. Occasionally, these works will achieve popular success as well, for example, though Christopher Paolinis Eragon, was not a great critical success, but its popularity among readers placed it on the New York Times Childrens Books Best Seller list for 121 weeks. First-time novelists of any age often find themselves unable to get published, because of a number of reasons reflecting the inexperience of the author
2.
Bengali literature
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Bengali literature denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language. The earliest extant work in Bengali literature is the Charyapada, a collection of Buddhist mystic songs dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries, thereafter, the timeline of Bengali literature is divided into two periods − medieval and modern. Novels were introduced to Bengali literature in the mid-19th century, Rabindranath Tagore, poet, playwright, novelist, painter, essayist, musician, and social reformer, is the best known figure of Bengali literature to the world. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, after the post-partition era, Bengali literature comprises literature of erstwhile East Pakistan and modern-day Bangladesh and of West Bengal. The first works in Bengali, written in new Bengali, appeared between 10th and 12th centuries C. E and it is generally known as the Charyapada. These are mystic songs composed by various Buddhist seer-poets, Luipada, Kanhapada, Kukkuripada, Chatilpada, Bhusukupada, Kamlipada, Dhendhanpada, Shantipada, Shabarapada etc, the famous Bengali linguist Haraprasad Shastri discovered the palm leaf Charyapada manuscript in the Nepal Royal Court Library in 1907. Pre-Chaitanya or Early Vaishnava literature denotes the literature of the preceding the time of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Sri Krishna Kirtana was written by Boru Chandidas in the half of 14th century CE. It is considered as the second oldest work of Bengali literature after Charyapada, the 15th century is marked by the emergence of Vaishnava lyrical poetry or the padavali in Bengal. The poetry of Vidyapati, the great Maithili poet, though not written in Bengali and he flourished in the modern-day Darbhanga district of Bihar, India in the 14th century. His Vaishnava lyrics became very popular among the masses of Bengal, the first major Bengali poet to write Vaishnava lyrics was Chandidas, who belong to the modern-day Birbhum district, Paschimbanga in the 15th century. Chandidas is also known for his humanist proclamation—Sabar upare manush satya, tahar upare nai —The supreme truth is man, the Bengali translations of two great Sanskrit texts the Bhagavata Purana and the Ramayana played a crucial role in the development of Middle Bengali literature. Maladhar Basu’s Sri Krishna Vijaya, which is chiefly a translation of the 10th and 11th cantos of the Bhagavata Purana, is the earliest Bengali narrative poem that can be assigned to a definite date, Maladhar Basu flourished in the modern-day Bardhaman district of Paschimbanga in the 15th century. Composed between 1473 and 1480 C. E, Sri Krishna Vijaya is also the oldest Bengali narrative poem of the Krishna legend. The Ramayana, under the title of Sri Rama Panchali, more known as the Krittibasi Ramayana, was translated by Krittibas Ojha who belonged to the modern-day Nadia district. He also, like Maladhar Basu, flourished in the 15th century, post-Chaitanya or Late Vaishnava literature denotes the literature of the time succeeding the time of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. These include, biographies of Chaitanya by Gaudiya Vaishnava scholar-poets and later Vaishnava Padavali with a subgenre based on the life of Chaitanya. Major figures of the Late Vaishnava literature are Krishnadasa Kaviraja, Vrindavana Dasa Thakura, Jayananda, Govindadasa, Jnandada, there are also minor Mangalkāvyas known as Shivāyana, Kālikā Mangal, Rāya Mangal, Shashtī Mangal, Sītalā Mangal and Kamalā Mangal etc
3.
Scottish Church College
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Scottish Church College is the oldest continuously running Christian liberal arts and sciences college in India. It has been highly rated by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. It is affiliated with the University of Calcutta for degree courses for graduates and postgraduates and it is a selective coeducational institution, known for its high academic standards. Students and alumni call themselves Caledonians in the name of the college festival, the origins are traceable to the life of Alexander Duff, the first overseas missionary of the Church of Scotland, to India. Known initially as the General Assemblys Institution, it was founded on 13 July 1830, Alexander Duff was born on 25 April 1806, in Moulin, Perthshire, located in the Scottish countryside. He attended the University of St Andrews where after graduation, he opted for a missionary life, subsequently, he undertook his evangelical mission to India. In a voyage that involved two shipwrecks and the loss of his library consisting of 800 volumes, and college prizes. Supported by the Governor-General of India Lord William Bentinck, Rev. Alexander Duff opened his institution in Feringhi Kamal Boses house, located in upper Chitpore Road, in 1836 the institution was moved to Gorachand Bysacks house at Garanhatta. Mr. MacFarlon, the Chief-Magistrate of Calcutta, laid the stone on 23 February 1837. Mr. John Gray, elected by Messrs, burn & Co. and superintended by Captain John Thomson of the East India Company designed the building. It is possible that he may have inspired by the facade of the Holy House of Mercy in Macau. Traces of English Palladianism are also evident in the design of the college, the construction of the building was completed in 1839. In the early 1800s, under the regime of the East India Company, English education, the general apathy of the Company towards the cause of education and improvement of natives is in many ways, the background for the agency of missionaries like Duff. Inspired by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Reverend Alexander Duff, then a young missionary, arrived in Indias colonial capital to set up an English-medium institution. While Orientalists like James Prinsep were supportive of the idea of education, Duff. Raja Ram Mohan Roy helped Duff by organizing the venue and bringing in the first batch of students and he also assured the guardians that reading the King Jamess Bible did not necessarily imply religious conversion, unless that was based on inner spiritual conviction. Although his ultimate aim was the spread of English education, Duff was aware that a language could not be mastered without command of the native language. Hence in his General Assemblys Institution, teaching and learning in the dominant vernacular Bengali language was also emphasized, Duff and his successors also underscored the necessity of sports among his students
4.
Malay Roy Choudhury
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Malay Roy Choudhury is a Bengali poet, playwright, short story writer, essayist and novelist who founded the Hungryalist movement in the 1960s. Roy Choudhury was born in Patna, Bihar, India, into the Sabarna Roy Choudhury clan and he grew up in Patnas Imlitala ghetto, which was mainly inhabited by Dalit Hindus and Shia Muslims. His was the only Bengali family and his father, Ranjit was a photographer in Patna, his mother, Amita, was from a progressive family of the 19th-century Bengali renaissance. His grandfather, Lakshmi Narayan Roychoudhury, was a photographer in Kolkata who had trained by Rudyard Kiplings father. At the age of three, Roy Choudhury was admitted to a local Catholic school, and later, he was sent to the Oriental Seminary, there, Roy Choudhury met student-cum-librarian Namita Chakraborty, who introduced him to Sanskrit and Bengali classics. All religious activities were banned at the school, and Roy Choudhury has said that his experience made him instinctively secular. Roy Choudhury has proficiency in English, Hindi, Bhojpuri and Maithili and he was influenced, though, by the Shia Muslim neighbors who recited Ghalib and Faiz in the Imlitala locality. The Hungryalist movement was led by Roy Choudhury, his brother, Samir Roychoudhury, Shakti Chattopadhyay. The movements English name was derived from Geoffrey Chaucers line in the sowre hungry tyme, Hungryalism petered out in 1965, when the West 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 Kolkatas Bankshall Court and he was jailed for a month for his poem Stark Electric Jesus by Kolkata Bankshal Court in 1966. However he was exonerated by the Kolkata High Court in 1967, Roy Choudhury went on to write poetry, fiction, plays, short stories and essays on Bengali social and cultural issues. He has written more than seventy books till date, 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 the Bangla Academy and Northwestern University have archives of Roy Choudhurys Hungryalist publications, Roy Choudhury wrote three drama during the Hungryalism movement, Illot, Napungpung and Hibakusha, considered to be a mash up of the Theater of the Absurd and Transhumanism. With his 1963 poem Prachanda Baidyutik Chhutar, which prompted the governments actions against the Hungryalists, the poem defied traditional forms, as well as Bengali meters. His poem Jakham is better known and has translated into multiple languages. His best-known poetry collections are Medhar Batanukul Ghungur, Naamgandho, and Illot, and he has written about 60 books since he launched the Hungryalist movement in November 1961. Roy Choudhury has also translated into Bengali works by William Blake, Arthur Rimbaud, Tristan Tzara, Andre Bretons Surrealism manifesto and poems, Jean Cocteau, Blaise Cendrars and he has also translated Paul Celans famous poem Death Fugue. However, he declined to accept this award and others, in 1995, Roy Choudhurys writings, both poetry and fiction, took a dramatic turn
5.
Avant-garde
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The avant-garde are people or works that are experimental, radical, or unorthodox, with respect to art, culture, and society. It may be characterized by nontraditional, aesthetic innovation and initial unacceptability, the avant-garde pushes the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo, primarily in the cultural realm. The avant-garde is considered by some to be a hallmark of modernism, the avant-garde also promotes radical social reforms. Several writers have attempted, with limited success, to map the parameters of avant-garde activity, the Italian essayist Renato Poggioli provides one of the best-known analyses of vanguardism as a cultural phenomenon in his 1962 book Teoria dellarte davanguardia. Other authors have attempted both to clarify and to extend Poggiolis study, bürgers essay also greatly influenced the work of contemporary American art-historians such as the German Benjamin H. D. Buchloh. Buchloh, in the collection of essays Neo-avantgarde and Culture Industry critically argues for an approach to these positions. Subsequent criticism theorized the limitations of these approaches, noting their circumscribed areas of analysis, including Eurocentric, chauvinist, and genre-specific definitions. The concept of avant-garde refers primarily to artists, writers, composers and thinkers whose work is opposed to cultural values. For Greenberg, these forms were therefore kitsch, phony, faked or mechanical culture, for instance, during the 1930s the advertising industry was quick to take visual mannerisms from surrealism, but this does not mean that 1930s advertising photographs are truly surreal. In this way the autonomous artistic merit so dear to the vanguardist was abandoned and sales became the measure. It has become common to describe successful rock musicians and celebrated film-makers as avant-garde, nevertheless, an incisive critique of vanguardism as against the views of mainstream society was offered by the New York critic Harold Rosenberg in the late 1960s. Since then it has been flanked by what he called avant-garde ghosts to the one side, and this has seen culture become, in his words, a profession one of whose aspects is the pretense of overthrowing it. Avant-garde in music can refer to any form of working within traditional structures while seeking to breach boundaries in some manner. The term is used loosely to describe the work of any musicians who radically depart from tradition altogether, although most avant-garde composers have been men, this is not exclusively the case. Women avant-gardists include Pauline Oliveros, Diamanda Galás, Meredith Monk, there are movements in theatre history that are characterized by their contributions to the avant-garde traditions in both the United States and Europe. Among these are Fluxus, Happenings, and Neo-Dada, Avant-garde – Wikipedia book Barron, Stephanie, and Maurice Tuchman. The Avant-garde in Russia, 1910–1930, New Perspectives, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art ISBN 0-87587-095-3, Cambridge, MA, ISBN 0-671-20422-X Berg, Hubert van den, and Walter Fähnders
6.
Samir Roychoudhury
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Samir Roychowdhury, one of the founding fathers of the Hungry Generation 1961–1965, was born at Panihati, West Bengal, India in a family of artists, sculptors, photographers, and musicians. The company was taken over by Samirs father Ranjit. Samirs mother Amita was from a family of 19th century renaissance. Samirs uncle Pramod was Keeper of Paintings and Sculpture at the Patna Museum, pramods daughters, Sabitri and Dharitri were accomplished veena players and classical singers. Dharitri was a painter as well, right from childhood Samir was thus in the company of people who could groom for his later literary achievements. Samir became a member of the group. Sunil Gangopadhyays first collection of poems Eka Ebong Koyekjan was funded and published by Samir. Samir left the group and took up a job of marine fisheries expert in a ship which most of the time was in the Arabian Sea and his first poetry collection Jharnar Pashey Shuye Aachhi was premised on the blueness of experience of this marine period. From marine Samir shifted to inland fisheries, which him a opportunity to become a part of the poorest boatmen, fishermen and fishnet-knitters families of rural. For three decades he travelled extensively in such areas as Chaibasa, Dumka, Daltonganj, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur. These places were the centres where the Hungryalist poets, writers and painters gathered and engaged in creative happenings which has become a part of Bengali literary folklore. During this period Samir emerged as one of the original thinkers, young writers, poets and artists as well as film makers visited him during his tribal sojourn. Shakti Chattopadhyay stayed with him at Chaibasa for more than two years and he is still an important figure before the contemporary younger poets and thinkers. Samir has been creative off and on, then after a decade his third collection of poems Janowar was published written in a different vein. Among the Hungryalists, he is considered to be a master of word formation and he shifted his base permanently to Calcutta in the beginning of the 1990s and started his own magazine aptly called HAOWA#49 or Unapanchash Vayu in Sanskrit which is a state of unknown mind. He also started Haowa#49 Publications for which his younger brother Malay Roy Choudhury joined as Creative Consultant, HAOWA#49 magazine virtually changed the avant garde literary scene. People who were critical of the Hungry Generation movement, and even denigrated Hungryalism. Post-graduate thesis have been written on the two brothers, considered to have up-welled fresh mind-waves in an otherwise stagnant creative pool, Samir wrote several treatises on Adhunantika aspects of Indian, especially Bengali society, that have impacted post-colonial mindset, and obviously arts, literature and culture
