Sukanta Chaudhuri
Encyclopedia
Sukanta Chaudhuri is an internationally renowned Bengali
India
n scholar of English literature of the Renaissance
period. He was educated at Presidency College, Kolkata
and the University of Oxford
. He taught at Presidency College from January 1973 to December 1991 and at Jadavpur University
from December 1991 till his retirement in June 2010. He also held the post of Professor Emeritus at Jadavpur University.
Sukanta Chaudhuri works in the fields of European Renaissance studies, translation, and textual studies. His first major monograph Infirm Glory: Shakespeare and the Renaissance Image of Man (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981) was republished in 2006 by DC Publishers. He has authored Renaissance Pastoral and Its English Developments (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), edited selections of Francis Bacon
’s Essays
and of Elizabethan poetry for OUP
, and edited or co-edited several collections of essays on the Renaissance: most recently Shakespeare without English (New Delhi: Pearson Education, 2006). He is also studying the links and parallels between the European and the Bengal Renaissances, to examine the possibility of a common model of a ‘Renaissance’.
, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Sukumar Ray
, Rajshekhar Bose and other classic Bengali writers, and many modern Bengali poets. His Select Nonsense of Sukumar Ray (New Delhi: OUP, 1998) is a wonderful recreation in English of Sukumar Ray's whimsical nonsense poems, and is probably the closest it is possible to get to expressing their spirit in a foreign language. He is General Editor of the Oxford Tagore Translations (five volumes published between 2000 and 2006). He has also authored Translation and Understanding (New Delhi: OUP, 1999).
play Jaha Chai was performed in Calcutta by the Nandikar
theatre group under the direction of Rudra Prasad Sengupta. This was part of a project on cultural mobility carried out by the scholar Stephen Greenblatt
and the off-Broadway dramatist Charles L. Mee
. Three playwrights in three different cultures (Bengal, Japan and Croatia) of whom Chaudhuri was one, were asked to write playscripts based upon the idea of the lost Shakespeare
play Cardenio
, in which it is thought that a newly married nobleman tests the loyalty of his wife by asking his best friend to attempt to seduce her. Chaudhuri Indianised the idea and set the story in modern Bengal, with Bengali and Adivasi
characters, the lost play metamorphosing into a (fictional) hitherto unknown Tagore
text.
He is married to Supriya Chaudhuri
who also teaches at the Department of English, Jadavpur University.
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n scholar of English literature of the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
period. He was educated at Presidency College, Kolkata
Presidency College, Kolkata
Presidency University, Kolkata, formerly Hindu College and Presidency College, is a unitary, state aided university, located in Kolkata, West Bengal. and one of the premier institutes of learning of liberal arts and sciences in India. In 2002 it was ranked number one by the weekly news magazine...
and the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. He taught at Presidency College from January 1973 to December 1991 and at Jadavpur University
Jadavpur University
Jadavpur University , is a premier educational and research institution in India.It is located in Kolkata, West Bengal and comprises two campuses - the main campus at Jadavpur and the new campus at Salt Lake...
from December 1991 till his retirement in June 2010. He also held the post of Professor Emeritus at Jadavpur University.
Sukanta Chaudhuri works in the fields of European Renaissance studies, translation, and textual studies. His first major monograph Infirm Glory: Shakespeare and the Renaissance Image of Man (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981) was republished in 2006 by DC Publishers. He has authored Renaissance Pastoral and Its English Developments (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), edited selections of Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
’s Essays
Essays (Francis Bacon)
Essayes: Religious Meditations. Places of Perswasion and Disswasion. Seene and Allowed was the first published book by the philosopher, statesman and jurist Francis Bacon. The Essays are written in a wide range of styles, from the plain and unadorned to the epigrammatic...
and of Elizabethan poetry for OUP
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, and edited or co-edited several collections of essays on the Renaissance: most recently Shakespeare without English (New Delhi: Pearson Education, 2006). He is also studying the links and parallels between the European and the Bengal Renaissances, to examine the possibility of a common model of a ‘Renaissance’.
Translation
Chaudhuri has translated extensively from Rabindranath TagoreRabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was a famous Bengali writer, poet and journalist. He was the composer of India’s national song Vande Mataram, originally a Bengali and Sanskrit stotra personifying India as a mother goddess and inspiring the activists during the Indian Freedom Movement...
, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Sukumar Ray
Sukumar Ray
Sukumar Ray , , was a Bengali humorous poet, story writer and playwright who mainly wrote for children. As perhaps the most famous Indian practitioner of literary nonsense, he is often compared to Lewis Carroll...
, Rajshekhar Bose and other classic Bengali writers, and many modern Bengali poets. His Select Nonsense of Sukumar Ray (New Delhi: OUP, 1998) is a wonderful recreation in English of Sukumar Ray's whimsical nonsense poems, and is probably the closest it is possible to get to expressing their spirit in a foreign language. He is General Editor of the Oxford Tagore Translations (five volumes published between 2000 and 2006). He has also authored Translation and Understanding (New Delhi: OUP, 1999).
Textual Studies
Over the last few years, he has researched, lectured and written widely on textual studies and editorial theory. His book The Metaphysics of Text combines the insights of traditional bibliography and textual criticism with recent editorial theory and theories of language in a new way. He is also involved with new areas of activity in recording, editing and analyzing Indian texts and records. At Jadavpur University, he was among the chief founders of the School of Cultural Texts and Records, and had been its Director from 2004 to 2010.Urban studies
Chaudhuri is interested in urban studies. He edited the major two-volume compilation Calcutta: The Living City (New Delhi: OUP, 1990). He writes and campaigns extensively on urban issues, especially concerning his native city, Kolkata.Drama
In early 2007 Chaudhuri's BengaliBengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
play Jaha Chai was performed in Calcutta by the Nandikar
Nandikar
Nandikar is a theatre group in India. The group has its headquarters in Kolkata in the state of West Bengal, but works around the world.__FORCETOC__-History:...
theatre group under the direction of Rudra Prasad Sengupta. This was part of a project on cultural mobility carried out by the scholar Stephen Greenblatt
Stephen Greenblatt
Stephen Jay Greenblatt is a literary critic, theorist and scholar.Greenblatt is regarded by many as one of the founders of New Historicism, a set of critical practices that he often refers to as "cultural poetics"; his works have been influential since the early 1980s when he introduced the term...
and the off-Broadway dramatist Charles L. Mee
Charles L. Mee
Charles L. Mee is an American playwright, historian and author known for his collage-like style of playwriting, which makes use of radical reconstructions of found texts.-Early Life and Early Career:...
. Three playwrights in three different cultures (Bengal, Japan and Croatia) of whom Chaudhuri was one, were asked to write playscripts based upon the idea of the lost Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
play Cardenio
Cardenio
The History of Cardenio, often referred to as merely Cardenio, is a lost play, known to have been performed by The King's Men, a London theatre company, in 1613. It was attributed to William Shakespeare and John Fletcher in a Stationers' Register entry of 1653...
, in which it is thought that a newly married nobleman tests the loyalty of his wife by asking his best friend to attempt to seduce her. Chaudhuri Indianised the idea and set the story in modern Bengal, with Bengali and Adivasi
Adivasi
Adivasi is an umbrella term for a heterogeneous set of ethnic and tribal groups claimed to be the aboriginal population of India. They comprise a substantial indigenous minority of the population of India...
characters, the lost play metamorphosing into a (fictional) hitherto unknown Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
text.
He is married to Supriya Chaudhuri
Supriya Chaudhuri
Supriya Chaudhuri is an internationally reputed Bengali Indian scholar of English literature. She is a professor at Kolkata's Jadavpur University...
who also teaches at the Department of English, Jadavpur University.