Bibhutibhushan

Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay (1894-1950) was a Bengali novelist and short story writer, best known for his autobiographical novel, Pather Panchali (The Song of the Road) which was later adapted into The Apu Trilogy of films, directed by Satyajit Ray. He was a nature lover who introduced the love for forests and landscapes to Bengali readers. A keen observer of Bengali family life, his fiction too is deeply evocative of the ordinary and the everydayness of its protagonists. The author in this book, explores through sociological, philosophical, and psychological lens the contradiction in Bibhutibhushan's desire for a golden primitive past as opposed to what he perceives as the evils of European modernity and its influence on Bengali society. This contradiction, the author suggests is best portrayed in his novel, Pather Panchali, where the protagonists are both dismayed by the onslaught of modernity while simultaneously aspiring to embrace it. The chapters in this book deal with many related contradictions that emerge throughout the text.