Malay Roy Choudhury (born 29 October 1939) is an Indian
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
i poet, playwright, short story writer, essayist and novelist who founded the
Hungryalist movement in the 1960s.
Early life and education
Malay Roy Choudhury was born in
Patna
Patna (
), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...
,
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
, India, into the
Sabarna Roy Choudhury
Sabarna Roy Choudhury was a Zamindar family of Mughal Bengal. They controlled significant swathes of territory, including what would later become Kolkata, prior to the sale of zamindari rights in 1698 to the East India Company.
Zamindari
E ...
clan, which owned the villages that became
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
. He grew up in Patna's Imlitala ghetto, which was mainly inhabited by
Dalit
Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...
Hindus and
Shia Muslims
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mos ...
. His was the only Bengali family. His father, Ranjit (1909–1991) was a photographer in Patna; his mother, Amita (1916–1982), was from a progressive family of the 19th-century
Bengali Renaissance. His grandfather,
Laksmikanta Roy Choudhury
Sabarna Roy Choudhury was a Zamindar family of Mughal Bengal. They controlled significant swathes of territory, including what would later become Kolkata, prior to the sale of zamindari rights in 1698 to the East India Company.
Zamindari
E ...
, was a photographer in Kolkata who had been trained by
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
's father, the curator of the
Lahore Museum
The Lahore Museum ( pa, ; ur, ; ''"Lahore Wonder House"'') is a museum located in Lahore, Pakistan. Founded in 1865 at a smaller location and opened in 1894 at its current location on The Mall in Lahore during the British colonial period, La ...
.
At the age of three, Roy Choudhury was admitted to a local Catholic school, and later, he was sent to the Rammohan Roy Seminary
Oriental Seminary
The Oriental Seminary started in 1829 by the educator Gour Mohan Addy, was the earliest privately run, first-rate school for children of Hindu parents in Kolkata (then known as Calcutta). It was open only to boys of Hindu parents. It was possibly ...
. The school was administered by the
Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj ( bn, ব্রহ্ম সমাজ, Brahmô Sômaj, ) is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement of the Hindu religion that appeared during the Bengal Renaissance.
It was one of th ...
movement, a
monotheistic religion founded in 1830 in Kolkata by Ram Mohun Roy, who aimed to purify
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
and recover the simple worship of the
Vedas
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
. There, Roy Choudhury met student-cum-librarian Namita Chakraborty, who introduced him to
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
and
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
classics. All religious activities were banned at the school, and Roy Choudhury has said that his childhood experience made him instinctively
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
.
Roy Choudhury has proficiency in English, Hindi, Bhojpuri and Maithili, apart from his mother tongue Bengali. He was influenced, though, by the Shia Muslim neighbors who recited Ghalib and Faiz in the Imlitala locality. At the same time his father had two workers Shivnandan Kahar and Ramkhelawan Singh Dabar at his photographic shop at Patna ; these two persons introduced Roy Choudhury to Ramcharitmanasa written by Tulasidasa as well as saint poets Rahim, Dadu and Kabir
Roy Choudhury did his master's degree in humanities. He later studied Rural Development which gave him a job in NABARD, where he got the opportunity to visit almost entire India for the upliftment of farmers, weavers, fishermen, artisans, craftsmen, potters, cobblers, landless labourers, jute farmers, potato growers and various under-caste Indians.
Hungryalist movement
The Hungryalist movement was initially led by Malay; his brother,
Samir Roychoudhury
Samir Roychowdhury (Bengali: সমীর রায়চৌধুরী) (1 November 1933 – 22 June 2016), one of the founding fathers of the Hungry Generation (also known as Hungryalism or Hungrealism (1961–1965)), was born at Panihati, ...
;
Shakti Chattopadhyay
Shakti Chattopadhyay (25 November 1933 – 23 March 1995) was an Indian poet and writer who wrote in Bengali. He is known for his realistic depictions of rural life. He was a green poet, many of his poems raised the issue of nature in crisis. T ...
; and Haradhon Dhara, known by his pseudonym
Debi Roy
Debi Roy (born 4 August 1940) is one of the founding fathers of the Hungry generation movement in Bengali literature. He is also the first modern Dalit poet in Bengali. He was born in a very poor family and worked as an errand boy in tea stalls ...
. Thirty more poets and artists subsequently joined them, the best-known being
Rajkamal Chaudhary
Rajkamal Choudhary (1929–1967) (also spelled Rajkamal Chaudhary or Rajkamal Chaudhari) was an Indian poet, short story writer, novelist, critic and thinker in Maithili & Hindi languages. He was known as "a bold leader of new poetry" and writ ...
,
Binoy Majumdar
Binoy Majumdar ( bn, বিনয় মজুমদার) (17 September 1934 – 11 December 2006) was a Bengali poet. Binoy received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2005.
Biography
Binoy Majumdar was born in Myanmar (erstwhile Burma) on 17 Sept ...
, Utpal Kumar Basu,
Falguni Roy
Falguni Roy (; 1945–1981) was an anti-establishment Bengali poet born in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Along with Shakti Chattopadhyay, Malay Roy Choudhury, Samir Roychoudhury, Subimal Basak, Debi Roy (Haradhon Dhara), Utpal Kumar Basu, Binoy ...
,
Subimal Basak,
Tridib Mitra
Tridib Mitra (born 31 December 1940) was an anti-establishment writer and part of the Hungry generation movement in Bengali literature. Mitra along with his wife, Alo Mitra, edited Hungry generation magazines "The Waste Paper" in English and " ...
,
Rabindra Guha
Rabindra Guha () (born 25 October 1934) is a Bengali poet of the Hungry generation movement in literature who subsequently started the Neem Sahitya Andolan with Mrinal Banik and Biman Chattopadhyay from the steel factory city of Durgapur in We ...
, and
Anil Karanjai
Anil Karanjai (27 June 1940 – 18 March 2001) was an accomplished Indian artist. Born in East Bengal, he was educated in Benaras, where his family settled subsequent to the Partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. As a small child he ...
. The movement's English name was derived from
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...
's line "in the sowre hungry tyme", and its philosophy was based on
Oswald Spengler
Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler (; 29 May 1880 – 8 May 1936) was a German historian and philosopher of history whose interests included mathematics, science, and art, as well as their relation to his organic theory of history. He is best known ...
's "
The Decline of the West
''The Decline of the West'' (german: Der Untergang des Abendlandes; more literally, ''The Downfall of the Occident''), is a two-volume work by Oswald Spengler. The first volume, subtitled ''Form and Actuality'', was published in the summer of 19 ...
".
Hungryalism petered out in 1965, when the
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
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 poem
Stark Electric Jesus by Kolkata
Bankshall Court in 1966. However he was exonerated by the Kolkata High Court in 1967. From the letters of
Sunil Gangopadhyay
Sunil Gangopadhyay or Sunil Ganguly (7 September 1934 – 23 October 2012) was an Indian poet, historian and novelist in the Bengali language based in the city of Kolkata. He is a former Sheriff of Calcutta. Gangopadhyay obtained his ma ...
written to
Sandipan Chattopadhyay
Sandipan Chattopadhyay (25 October 1933 – 12 December 2005) was an Indian Bengali writer. His 1961 book ''"Kritadas Kritadasi"'' changed the landscape of Bengali fiction and made his name. A staunch anti-establishment figure and a supporter o ...
during 1964 published recently it is known that
Sunil Gangopadhyay
Sunil Gangopadhyay or Sunil Ganguly (7 September 1934 – 23 October 2012) was an Indian poet, historian and novelist in the Bengali language based in the city of Kolkata. He is a former Sheriff of Calcutta. Gangopadhyay obtained his ma ...
felt that
Hungry generation literary movement was a threat to his
Krittibas group of poets of 1950s.
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 until date.
Howard McCord, a professor of English at
Washington State University
Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...
and
Bowling Green University
Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...
who met Roy Choudhury during a visit to Kolkata, wrote in ''City 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 the
Bangla Academy
The Bangla Academy ( bn, বাংলা একাডেমি, ) is an autonomous institution funded by the Bangladesh government to foster the Bengali language, literature and culture, to develop and implement national language policy and to d ...
and
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
have archives of Roy Choudhury's 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
The Theatre of the Absurd (french: théâtre de l'absurde ) is a post–World War II designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s. It is also a term for the style o ...
and
Transhumanism
Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement which advocates the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies that can greatly enhance longevity and cognition.
Transhuma ...
.
Poetry and translations
With his 1963 poem "Prachanda Baidyutik Chhutar" ("
Stark Electric Jesus"), which prompted the government's actions against the Hungryalists, Roy Choudhury introduced
Confessional poetry
Confessional poetry or "Confessionalism" is a style of poetry that emerged in the United States during the late 1950s and early 1960s. It is sometimes classified as a form of Postmodernism. It has been described as poetry of the personal or "I", ...
to Bengali literature. The poem defied traditional forms (e.g.,
sonnet
A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, ...
,
villanelle
A villanelle, also known as villanesque,Kastner 1903 p. 279 is a nineteen-line poetic form consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain. There are two refrains and two repeating rhymes, with the first and third line of the first tercet rep ...
,
minnesang
(; "love song") was a tradition of lyric- and song-writing in Germany and Austria that flourished in the Middle High German period. This period of medieval German literature began in the 12th century and continued into the 14th. People who wr ...
,
pastourelle
The pastourelle (; also ''pastorelle'', ''pastorella'', or ''pastorita'' is a typically Old French lyric form concerning the romance of a shepherdess. In most of the early pastourelles, the poet knight meets a shepherdess who bests him in a batt ...
,
canzone
Literally "song" in Italian, a ''canzone'' (, plural: ''canzoni''; cognate with English ''to chant'') is an Italian or Provençal song or ballad. It is also used to describe a type of lyric which resembles a madrigal. Sometimes a composition w ...
, etc.), as well as Bengali
meters
The metre ( British spelling) or meter ( American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its p ...
(e.g., matrabritto and aksharbritto). His poem "Jakham" is better known and has been translated into multiple languages.
His best-known poetry collections are ''Medhar Batanukul Ghungur'', ''Naamgandho'', and ''Illot'', 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 has also translated into
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
works by
William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
("
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
''The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'' is a book by the English poet and printmaker William Blake. It is a series of texts written in imitation of biblical prophecy but expressing Blake's own intensely personal Romantic and revolutionary beliefs ...
"),
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he starte ...
("
A Season in Hell
''A Season in Hell'' (french: Une Saison en Enfer}) is an extended poem in prose written and published in 1873 by French writer Arthur Rimbaud. It is the only work that was published by Rimbaud himself. The book had a considerable influence ...
"),
Tristan Tzara
Tristan Tzara (; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, comp ...
(
Dada
Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...
manifestos and poems),
Andre Breton's
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
manifesto and poems,
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...
("Crucifixion"),
Blaise Cendrars
Frédéric-Louis Sauser (1 September 1887 – 21 January 1961), better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss-born novelist and poet who became a naturalized French citizen in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the European mod ...
("Trans-Siberian Express"), and
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
("
Howl
Howl most often refers to:
*Howling, an animal vocalization in many canine species
*Howl (poem), a 1956 poem by Allen Ginsberg
Howl may also refer to:
Film
* ''The Howl'', a 1970 Italian film
* ''Howl'' (2010 film), a 2010 American arthouse b ...
" and "
Kaddish
Kaddish or Qaddish or Qadish ( arc, קדיש "holy") is a hymn praising God that is recited during Jewish prayer services. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the liturgy, different version ...
"). He has also translated
Paul Celan
Paul Celan (; ; 23 November 1920 – c. 20 April 1970) was a Romanian-born German-language poet and translator. He was born as Paul Antschel to a Jewish family in Cernăuți (German: Czernowitz), in the then Kingdom of Romania (now Chernivtsi, U ...
's famous poem "
Death Fugue
"" (Deathfugue) is a German language poem written by the Romanian-born poet Paul Celan probably around 1945 and first published in 1948. It is one of his best-known and often-anthologized poems. Despite critics claiming that the lyrical finesse and ...
".
Roy Choudhury has written extensively on the life and works of
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
,
Henry Miller
Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...
,
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
,
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...
,
Jean Arthur Rimbaud,
Osip Mandelstam
Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam ( rus, Осип Эмильевич Мандельштам, p=ˈosʲɪp ɨˈmʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mənʲdʲɪlʲˈʂtam; – 27 December 1938) was a Russian and Soviet poet. He was one of the foremost members of the A ...
,
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...
and
Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; uk, А́нна Андрі́ївна Горе́нко, Ánna Andríyivn ...
He was given the
Sahitya Academy
The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...
award, the Indian government's highest honor in the field, in 2003 for translating
Dharamvir Bharati
Dharamvir Bharati (25 December 1926 – 4 September 1997) was a renowned Hindi poet, author, playwright and a social thinker of India. He was the chief editor of the popular Hindi weekly magazine '' Dharmayug'', from 1960 till 1987.The Illustr ...
's ''Suraj Ka Satwan Ghora''.
However, he declined to accept this award and others.
Adhunantika phase
In 1995, Roy Choudhury's writings, both poetry and fiction, took a dramatic turn. A linguist,
Probal Dasgupta
Probal Dasgupta (born 1953 in Kolkata, India) is an Indian linguist, Esperanto speaker and activist. Dasgupta's interest in linguistics started at a very young age. He published his first article in phonology at the age of eighteen inIndian Li ...
, dubbed this the Adhunantika Phase (Bengali: অধুনান্তিক পর্ব), a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words[Postmodernism
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or Rhetorical modes, mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by philosophical skepticism, skepticis ...](_blank)
and
Transhumanism
Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement which advocates the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies that can greatly enhance longevity and cognition.
Transhuma ...
After Roy Choudhury shifted to Mumbai from Calcutta he has ventured into
Magic realism and written novels such as ''Labiyar Makdi'', ''Chashomranger Locha'', ''Thek Shuturmurg'', ''Jungle Romio'', ''Necropurush'' and ''Naromangshokadhoker Halnagad''.
In 2014 Roy Choudhury wrote his autobiography in his distinct style titled ''Rahuketu''.
Personal life
Roy Choudhury lives in
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
with his wife, Shalila, who was a
field hockey
Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...
player from
Nagpur
Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...
. Their daughter, Anushree Prashant, lives in
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
with her husband and two daughters; his son Jitendra lives in
Riyadh
Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the R ...
with his wife Sudipta.
In popular culture
A 2014 film based on Roy Choudhury's poem
Stark 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.
Srijit Mukherji
Srijit Mukherji is an excellent national award winning Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali cinema. His regular collaboration with veteran actor Prosenjit Chatterjee brought him into the ...
directed a film in 2011 titled ''Baaishey Shrabon'', in which Roy Choudhury was portrayed by
Gautam Ghosh.
Roy Choudhury's poems have been recited by famous poets from India and Bangladesh. They are Chaitali Biswas, Susmita Bose. Sadia Sobhan Sara, Labanyo Shahida, Mohona Setu. Sarmin Subha, Debashis Bhattacharya, Tanumoy Goswami, and Shibashis Dargupta. Two of his famous poems 'Stark Electric Jesus' and 'Sending My Cut-Off Head as A Valentine Gift' have been recited and uploaded on YouTube by several young poets both in English and Bengali. His interviews are also available on YouTube.
Sources and references
*''Malay Roy Choudhury-r Bitarka'', edited by Madhusudan Roy.
Barnik Prakashon, Bardhaman, West Bengal, India (2018).
*''Malay Roy Choudhury Compendium'', edited by A.M. Murshid. Avishkar Prakashani, Kolkata, India (2002).
*''Hungryalist Interviews of Malay Roy Choudhury'', edited by Ajit Ray. Mahadiganta Publishers, Kolkata (1999).
*''Postmodern Interviews of Malay Roychoudhury'', edited by Arabinda Pradhan. Graffiti Publishers, Kolkata (2004).
*''Van Tulsi Ki Gandh'', by Phanishwarnath Renu. Rajkamal Prakashan, Delhi, India (1984).
*''Hungry Shruti & Shastravirodhi Andolon'', by Uttam Das. Mahadiganta Publishers, Kolkata (1986).
*''Shater Dashaker Kabita'', by Mahmud Kamal. Shilpataru Prakashani, Dhaka, Bangladesh (1991).
*''Hungry-Adhunantik Malay'', edited by Ratan Biswas. Ahabkal Publications, Kolkata (2002).
*''Salted Feathers'', edited by Dick Bakken. Portland, Oregon (1967).
*''Intrepid'', edited by Carl Weissner. Buffalo, New York (1968).
*''English Letters to Malay'', edited by Tridib Mitra. Hungry Books, Howrah, India (1968).
*''Bangla Letters to Malay'', edited by Alo Mitra. Hungry Books, Howrah (1969).
*''SWAPNA'' (Malay Roy Choudhury Special Issue, 15th Year, #1), edited by Bishnu Dey. Nabin Chandra College, Assam (2008).
*''Sambhar: Malay Roy Choudhury Interview'', by Amitava Deb. Sambhar Publications, Silchar, Assam, India (2008).
*''Savarna Barta:'' ''Hungryalist Movement and Sabarna Roy Choudhury Clan'', by Sonali Mukherjee. Tarkeshwar College, Kolkata (2008).
*''Bodh:'' ''Malay Roy Choudhury's Poetry'', by Uttam Chakraborty. Rupnarayanpur, West Bengal, India (2008).
*''Stark Electric Jesus'', with foreword by Howard McCord. Tribal Press (1965).
Selected works
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.
See also
*
Sabarna Roy Choudhury
Sabarna Roy Choudhury was a Zamindar family of Mughal Bengal. They controlled significant swathes of territory, including what would later become Kolkata, prior to the sale of zamindari rights in 1698 to the East India Company.
Zamindari
E ...
*
Hungry generation
*
Samir Roychoudhury
Samir Roychowdhury (Bengali: সমীর রায়চৌধুরী) (1 November 1933 – 22 June 2016), one of the founding fathers of the Hungry Generation (also known as Hungryalism or Hungrealism (1961–1965)), was born at Panihati, ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Choudhury, Malay Roy
1939 births
Living people
Bengali male poets
Bengali-language poets
Bengali-language writers
Hungry generation
Indian male novelists
Indian male poets
Oriental Seminary alumni
Writers from Patna
Poets from Bihar
Indian postmodern writers
20th-century Indian poets
20th-century Indian novelists
Novelists from Bihar
20th-century Indian male writers
20th-century Bengali poets
Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Prize for Translation