Arun Mitra
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Arun Mitra (Bengali: অরুণ মিত্র) (b. November, 1909 in Jessore, now in Bangladesh - d. August, 2000 in Kolkata, India, was a Bengali poet.
Arun moved to Kolkata when he was a young boy and did most of his schooling there. In college he was very fascinated by the life sciences, although he was officially a student of English. At that time he was also writing a lot of poetry and reading his way through his new-found love-- French literature.
After college, Arun Mitra became a successful journalist in the Bengali daily Ananda Bazar Patrika which at that time was edited by Satyendranath Majumdar, a prominent Bengali journalist-writer of that time. Arun's colleagues included the playwright Bijon Bhattacharya, and the novelist Subodh Ghosh. In 1937 Arun Mitra married Shanti and together they lived with Satyendranath who also happened to be Shanti Mitra's uncle. Shanti herself was an important short fiction writer.
In collaboration with Satyendranath, Arun edited Arani a progressive literary magazine which spearheaded the anti-fascist writers' movement in Bengal and where many of the stalwarts of Bengali literature were first published. Throughout the period that spanned World War II and the partition of India (into India and Pakistan), Arun Mitra remained a staunch advocate of freedom and sanity-- as poet, journalist and writer. This commitment to humanity was the driving force of his life.
In 1948, Arun Mitra was awarded a scholarship by the French government to do his doctoral work at the Sorbonne, and Arun went reluctantly as he was not happy to leave Shanti and their two children behind. In Paris, Arun befriended the historian Ranajit Guha and the painter Paritosh Sen and also spent time with Aldous Huxley and French poets like Paul Eluard and Louis Aragon. After his return to India, Arun joined the faculty at Allahabad University and taught there until his retirement. He was always a poet first, and during his Allahabad years published much, including his only novel and translations of various French poets and writers-- from Rimbaud to Sartre, from Voltaire to St. John-Perse.
The Mitras finally settled once again in Kolkata, living most of the rest of their lives in Tiljala, a poor and working-class neighborhood of the city. It was in Tiljala that Arun Mitra produced his best work and brought a decidedly new direction to Bengali poetry. Throughout their lives, people from all walks of life and across many generations befriended Shanti and Arun Mitra. Arun's fame actually made him more accessible to ordinary people, and along with them he mourned Shanti's passing in 1998 in several of his last poems about his "fallen fellow-warrior".
Two days before he died, Arun Mitra said his head was full of poetry that must be spoken, and dictated some lines, his last poem, to a young publisher friend.
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[edit] Selected bibliography
(This does not include numerous essays, reviews, news articles, commentaries, translations, recorded and/or published interviews that are not contained in the publications listed here. English translations of titles are literal in most instances. Transcription of Bengali titles try to represent, as much as possible, the Bengali vernacular and not Sanskrit pronunciation of words.)
[edit] Poetry
- Prantorekha [Horizon Line] Arani Publication, Kolkata. 1943
- Utser Dikey [Toward the Source] Dipankar Publication, Kolkata. 1955
- Ghonishto Taap [Intimate Warmth] Tribeni Publishers, Kolkata. 1963
- Mancher Bairey Matitey [Beyond the Stage On the Earth] Saraswat Publication, Kolkata. 1970
- Shudhu Raater Shabdo Noi [Not Just the Rustle of the Night] Nabopatro Publication, Kolkata. 1978 (Winner, Rabindranath Tagore Award)
- Prathom Poli Shesh Pathor [First Silt Last Stone] Karuna Publication, Kolkata. 1981
- Khunjtey Khunjtey Eto Door [So Far After Searching So Long] Pratikhshan Publication, Kolkata. 1986 (Winner, Sahitya Akademi Award)
- Jodio Agun Jhor Dhasha Danga [Although a Bank Ravaged by Firestorm] Pratikhshan Publication, Kolkata. 1988
- Ei Amrito Ei Garol [This Nectar This Venom] Proma Publication, Kolkata. 1991
- Tunikathaar Gherao Thekey Bolchhi [I Speak Surrounded by Small Talk] Anushtup Publication, Kolkata. 1992
- Khara Urboray Chinho Diye Choli [I Put My Signature on Drought and on Plenty] Pratikhshan Publication, kolkata. 1994
- Andhokaar Jatokkhon Jegey Thakey [As Long As Darkness Remains Awake] Ananda Publishers, Kolkata. 1996
- Ora Uritey Noi [Not In Random Flight] Kobita Pakhshik, Kolkata. 1997
- Bhangoner Mati [Eroding Soil] Dey's Publishing House, Kolkata. 1998
- Uchchhanno Shomayer Shukh Dukkho Ghirey [Surrounded By Joy and Sorrow of a Wayward Time] Ananda Publishers, Koklkata. 1999
[edit] Anthology
- Arun Mitrer Sreshtho Kobita [Best Poems of Arun Mitra] Bharobi Publication, Kolkata. 1972
- Arun Mitrer Sreshtho Kobita [Best poems of Arun Mitra] Narbaak Publication, Kolkata. 1985
- Kabya Shamagro, Vol. I [Collected Poems] Protibhas Publication, Kolkata. 1988
- Kabya Shamagro, Vol. II [Collected Poems] Protibhas Publication, Kolkata. 1992
- Bulaar Raagmala [Bula's Garland of Raags] Proma Publication, Kolkata. 1994
- Nirbachito Premer Kobita [Selected Poems About Love] Bikash Gronthaboli, Kolkata. 1994
- Panchsho Bachhorer Pharashi Kobita [Five Hundred Years of French Poetry] Translation of various French poets Proma Publication, Kolkata. 1994
- Shwanirbachito Sreshtho Kobita [Best Poems-- selected by the poet] Abhijat Publication, Kolkata. 1999
- Arun Mitrer Sreshtho Kobita [Best poems of Arun Mitra] Dey's Publishing House, Kolkata. 1999
[edit] Narratives
- Shikawr Jodi Chena Jai [If Roots Are Known] Bengali novelKaruna Publication, Kolkata. 1979
- Candide, Ba Ashabad [Candide, or Optimism] Translation of Voltaire Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. 1970
[edit] Collections (Prose)
- Pharashi Shahitto Proshongey [On french literature] Critical essays Proma Publication, Kolkata. 1985
- Srijan Shahitto Nanaan Bhabna [Creative Literature Various Thoughts] Protibhas Publication, Kolkata. 1987
- Aragon [Aragon] On Louis Aragon: Critical/Biographical Proma Publication, Kolkata. 1991
- Khola Chokhey [With Eyes Open] Proma Publication, Kolkata. 1992
- Pather Morey [At the Crossroads] Remembering writers, artists, friends Proma Publication, Kolkata. 1996
- Kobir Katha, Kobider Katha [About Poet and Poets] Essays on poetry and individual poets Kobita Prakhshik, Kolkata. 1997
- Kobita Ami O Amra [Poetry Myself and We] Essays on Bengali and french literature Dey's Publishing House, Kolkata. 1999
- Jibaner Rangey [In the Color of Life] Memoirs Abhijit Publication, Kolkata. 1999
[edit] Seclected works on Arun Mitra
- Kobi Arun Mitra [The Poet Arun Mitra] Collection of critical essays, analyses, commentaries edited by Shankha Ghosh and Arun Sen Parichay/Anushtup, Kolkata. 1986
- Arun Mitra (in English) by Abanti Sanyal "Makers of Indian Literature" series Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. 2003
