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Author Highlight: Michael Madhusudan Dutt

Michael Madhusudan Dutt won substantial glory to his name as a Bengali poet and dramatist in 19th century. He was born in Jessore District, East Bengal, and now a part of Bangladesh. He pioneered in Bengali drama. Meghnad Bodh Kavya was his super famous work, a tragic epic. It had hit the focus light for being an exceptional work with style and content in Bengali literature, a rarity then. His work was inclusive of affliction and pain, spoken by women with reference to love and tragedies. Then, being a male writer featuring female characterization was unique as well as rare.      Owing to his desire to become an Englishman, he, later on, accepted Christianity. Though he regretted afterwards, however the pain he got from the haunting memories of his homeland was reflected in his sorrowful poems. He was extremely good with Bengali sonnets and to some extent was considered father of the Bengali sonnets. Michael Madhusudan was heavily inspired by life and work of Engli

Author Highlight: Munshi Premchand

Premchand was one of the classics of Hindustani literature. Many prominent figures and newspapers usually referred to him as ‘Upanyas Samrat’ (Emperor of novels). He was famous with the name Munshi Premchand, though his real (born) name was Dhanpat Rai. During initial years of his writing career he took Nawab Rai as a pen name but later on switched to Munshi Premchand. Britishers were jealous of Premchand; as well feared his writing capabilities can bring about a freedom revolution among the masses, so with trepidation they burnt 3000 copies of Soz-e-Watan. Furthermore to continue his writing passion, he hid his identity and switched to a very peculiar Hindi name - Munshi Premchand. Even the hatred of Britishers could not stop this contemporary novelist from writing all time classics, which are equally celebrated even today. Children study his literature in schools; he was such a great artist. He wrote over 250 short stories and a dozen novels, all his novels were

Book Review: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Unlike popular war fictions, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is a straight book focusing the harsh realities of war and the conditions which people or soldiers endure. Paul, a German soldier, is sent to war to fight against France in World War 1. Paul, like his other friends, is of opinion that participation in a war, as a soldier, is a matter of glory and reputation in his country but soon his perceptions about war glory changes when he witnesses young men dying around him day in,  day out, including his school friends.  Further, the book covers many essential aspects of wars, like the violence and terror generally spread by war. And it is strange to know in war people do not die a simple death, even death patterns are different and dreadful.  During his tenure he meets a group of French girls for fun and sees Russian prisoners with no different mindset and he also kills a French army man in a trench. Paul while fighting develops a fatigu

Book Review: Gaban by Munshi Premchand

Munshi Premchand’s novels and short stories are known for having socio-economic themes in them. Probably, he is the only writer from the pre-independence era who wrote explicitly about lower and middle-class issues which troubled the lives of Indians. Basically, he depicts that how a person or family gets in the vicious circle to free themselves from many delusional gripping aspects like poverty, status quo, pride and so on. However, little did they realize that their situation in the vicious circle is very unlikely to be improved? As a human, seldom people realize their mistake, until they reach the point of no return. Gaban is one such story of a couple who for the sake of vanity and greed run over their own peace – little to their realization. As the story opens it is clear that Ramanath is living a simple and happy life in his village. And soon he is married off to Jalpa. The marriage expenses were arranged by his father on loan money. To pay off the debts, he sell