Hungry generation - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Hungry Generation (Bengali হাংরি জেনারেশান ) was a literary movement in the Bengali language

Bengali 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...

launched by what is known today as the Hungryalist quartet i.e. Shakti Chattopadhyay

Shakti Chattopadhyay

Shakti Chattopadhay was a Bengali poet and writer, widely regarded as one of the greatest poet of 20th century Bengali literature. -External links:...

, Malay Roy Choudhury

Malay Roy Choudhury

Malay Roy Choudhury is a Bengali poet and novelist who founded the "Hungryalist Movement" in the 1960s. His literary works have been reviewed by sixty critics in HAOWA 49, a quarterly magazine which devoted its January 2001 special issue to Roy Choudhury's life and works...

, Samir Roychoudhury

Samir Roychoudhury

Samir Roychowdhury , one of the founding fathers of the Hungry Generation 1961-1965 ,was born at Panihati, West Bengal, India in a family of artists, sculptors, photographers and musicians...

and Debi Roy

Debi Roy

Debi Roy 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 of Calcutta when his parents lived in a slum in Howrah. He funded his own...

alias Haradhon Dhara, during the 1960s in Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

, India. Due to their involvement in this avante garde cultural movement, the leaders lost their jobs and were jailed. Dr Uttam Das, Reader, Calcutta University, in his dissertation 'Hungry Shruti and Shastravirodhi Andolan' has explained how they challenged and significantly changed the language and the vocabulary used by contemporary writers to express their feelings in literature and painting.
The approach of the Hungryalists was to confront and disturb the prospective readers' preconceived colonial canons. According to Pradip Choudhuri, a leading philosopher and poet of the generation, whose works have been extensively translated in French, their counter-discourse was the first voice of post-colonial freedom of pen and brush. Besides the famous four mentioned above, Utpalkumar Basu, Binoy Majumdar

Binoy Majumdar

Binoy Majumdar was a Bengali poet. Binoy received the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 2005.-Biography:Late Binoy Majumdar was born in Myanmar on the 17th of September 1934. His family later moved to what is now West Bengal in India. Binoy loved mathematics from his early youth...

, Sandipan Chattopadhyay

Sandipan Chattopadhyay

Sandipan Chattopadhyay was a Bengali writer. In 1961 he wrote the book "Kritadas Kritadasi" it changed the landscape of Bengali fiction and created a niche for himself...

, Basudeb Dasgupta

Basudeb Dasgupta

Basudeb Dasgupta , a Bengali novelist and short-story writer , is considered as one of the most significant avant-gardes and controversial figures in the history of Bengali literature.-Writings:Basudeb's major contribution to Bengali literature spanned from the early 1960s to mid 80's...

, Falguni Roy

Falguni Roy

Falguni Roy was an anti-establishment Bengali poet. Along with Shakti Chattopadhyay, Malay Roy Choudhury, Samir Roychoudhury, Subimal Basak, Debi Roy ,Utpalkumar Basu, Binoy Majumdar, Sandipan Chattopadhyay, Basudeb Dasgupta, Roy was also associated with the Hungryalist movement.-Film on Falguni:A...

, Subhash Ghosh, Tridib Mitra

Tridib Mitra

Tridib Mitra was one of the pioneers of the Hungry generation movement in Bengali literature which changed the literary landscape of West Bengal once for all. With his wife Alo Mitra he edited Hungry generation magazines The Waste Paper in English and Unmarga in Bengali...

, Alo Mitra, Ramananda Chattopadhyay, Anil Karanjai

Anil Karanjai

Anil Karanjai 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 had spent long hours playing with clay to make toys and arrows. He also began very early...

, Saileswar Ghosh, Karunanidhan Mukhopadhyay, Subo Acharya, were among the leading writers and artists of the movement.

Origins

The movement was launched in November 1961 from Patna residence of Malay Roy Choudhury

Malay Roy Choudhury

and his brother Samir Roychoudhury

Samir Roychoudhury

Samir Roychowdhury , one of the founding fathers of the Hungry Generation 1961-1965 ,was born at Panihati, West Bengal, India in a family of artists, sculptors, photographers and musicians...

. They took the word Hungry from Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...

's line "In Sowre Hungry Tyme" and they drew upon Oswald Spengler

Oswald Spengler

Oswald Manuel Arnold Gottfried Spengler was a German historian and philosopher whose interests also included mathematics, science, and art. He is best known for his book The Decline of the West , published in 1918, which puts forth a cyclical theory of the rise and decline of civilizations...

's idea of Non-Linear Time in a particular culture for philosophical inspiration. The movement was to last from 1961 to 1965. It is wrong to suggest that the movement was influenced by the Beat Generation, since Ginsberg did not visit Malay until April 1963, when he came to Patna. Poets Octavio Paz

Octavio Paz

Octavio Paz Lozano was a Mexican writer, poet, and diplomat, and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature.-Early life and writings:...

and Ernesto Cardenal

Ernesto Cardenal

Reverend Father Ernesto Cardenal Martínez is a Nicaraguan Catholic priest and was one of the most famous liberation theologians of the Nicaraguan Sandinistas, a party he has since left. From 1979 to 1987 he served as Nicaragua's first culture minister. He is also famous as a poet...

were to visit Malay later during the sixties.

History

This movement is characterized by expression of closeness to nature

Nature

Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...

and sometimes tenets of Gandhianism and Prudhonianism. Although it originated at Patna, Bihar and was initially based in Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

, it had participants spread over North Bengal, Tripura

Tripura

Tripura is a state in North-East India, with an area of . It is the third smallest state of India, according to area. Tripura is surrounded by Bangladesh on the north, south, and west. The Indian states of Assam and Mizoram lie to the east. The capital is Agartala and the main languages spoken are...

and Benares. According to Dr. Shankar Bhattacharya, Dean

Dean (education)

In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...

at Assam University

Assam University

Assam University is a teaching-cum-affiliating university. The university has nine schools which offer Social Sciences, Humanities, Languages, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Information Sciences, Technology and Management Studies. There are 29 departments under these...

, as well as Aryanil Mukherjee, editor of Kaurab Literary Periodical, the movement influencedAllen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg

Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...

as much as it influenced American poetry through the Beat poets who visited Calcutta, Patna and Benares during the Sixties decade. Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, now a professor and editor, was associated with the Hungry generation movement. Shakti Chattopadhyay

Shakti Chattopadhyay

Shakti Chattopadhay was a Bengali poet and writer, widely regarded as one of the greatest poet of 20th century Bengali literature. -External links:...

, Saileswar Ghosh, Subhas Ghosh left the movement in 1964.

More than 100 manifestos were issued during 1961-1965. Malay's poems have been published by Prof P. Lal from his Writers Workshop

Writers Workshop

Writers Workshop is a Calcutta-based literary publisher founded by the poet-professor P. Lal in 1958. Over the next few decades it published many new authors in urban literature of the post-independence period. These authors later became big names.-History:...

publication. Howard McCord

Howard McCord

Howard McCord is an American writer. He is Professor Emeritus of English at Bowling Green State University, where he was Director of the Creative Writing Program for most of the past quarter-century...

published Malay Roy Choudhury

Malay Roy Choudhury

's controversial poem Prachanda Boidyutik Chhutar ie., Stark Electric Jesus from Washington State University in 1965. The poem has been translated into several languages of the world. Into German by Carl Weissner,in Spanish by Margaret Randall, in Urdu

Urdu

Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

by Ameeq Hanfee,in Assamese by Manik Dass, in Gujarati by Nalin Patel, in Hindi

Hindi

Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

by Rajkamal Chaudhary

Rajkamal Chaudhary

Rajkamal Chaudhary , was an Indian poet, short story writer, novelist, critic and thinker in Hindi, Maithili and Bangla languages. He was known as "a bold leader of new poetry" and writer who "stands out differently" from most other experimentalists.-Biography:Raj Kamal was born at Mahishi village...

, and in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

by Howard McCord.
Prof B. Dey of Assam University has been awarded Ph D for his 350 page seminal work on Malay Roy Choudhury and The Hungryalist Movement.

Impact

The works of these participants appeared in Citylights Journal 1, 2 and 3 published between 1964 and 1966, edited by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Lawrence Ferlinghetti is an American poet, painter, liberal activist, and the co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers...

, and in special issues of American magazines including Kulchur edited by Lita Hornick, Klactoveedsedsteen edited by Carl Weissner, El Corno Emplunado edited by Margaret Randall, Evergreen Review edited by Barney Rosset, Salted Feathersedited by Dick Bakken, Intrepid

Intrepid

Intrepid can refer to:intrepid [ɪnˈtrɛpɪd]adjfearless; daring; bold [from Latin intrepidus, from in-1 + trepidus fearful, timid]intrepidity , intrepidness nintrepidly adv- People and organizations :...

edited by Alan De Loach, and San Francisco Earthquake, during the sixties. (See references).Hungry Generation also known as Hungryalism challenged the mainstream literary genres. The group wrote poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

and prose

Prose

Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...

in completely different forms and experimented with the contents. The movement changed the literary atmosphere

Atmosphere

An atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, and that is held in place by the gravity of the body. An atmosphere may be retained for a longer duration, if the gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low...

of Bengal altogether. It had influences in Hindi

Hindi

, Marathi

Marathi language

Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...

, Assamese

Assamese language

Assamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in...

and Urdu

Urdu

literatures. (See references)

Film

In 2011 Srijit Mukherji

Srijit Mukherji

Srijit Mukherji is an erstwhile economist, actor, director, lyricist, and theatrician from the Indian movie industry of West Bengal, Kolkata.-Early life:...

directed a film titled Baishe Srabon
Baishe Srabon
Baishe Srabon is a 2011 Bengali musical thriller directed by director Srijit Mukherji. The cast of the movie consists of Prosenjit Chatterjee, Parambrata Chatterjee, Raima Sen, Abir Chatterjee and reputed actor Gautam Ghosh who made a come back after 29 years...

wherein famous film director Gautam Ghose
Gautam Ghose
Goutam Ghose is one of the most acclaimed film directors of modern India. Born in Calcutta. Graduated from Calcutta University....

has portrayed the role of a Hungryalist poet. This was for the first time that an avant garde movement was incorporated in mainstream cinema. However, the film has distorted the history of the movement.

Sources

(1)The autobiography of Malay Roy Choudhury

Malay Roy Choudhury

is available in Vol 215 of "Contemporary Authors" published by Thomas Gale. (ISBN 0-7876-6639-4)
There are Hungry Generation Archives in Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

in Illinois as well as Bangla Academy

Bangla Academy

Bangla Academy , established on 3 December 1955, is the national academy for promoting Bangla language in Bangladesh. The main office of the organization is located at the Burdwan House, once a part of the campus of the University of Dhaka, beside Suhrawardy Udyan.-History:The importance of...

in Dhaka, Bangladesh. At Kolkata the Little Magazine Library and Research Centre run by Sandip Dutta has a separate section on the Hungryalist publications as well as trial papers of the famous Hungry generation case in which some of the colleagues of Malay turned against the movement and gave undertakings to have withdrawn from the movement. Trial papers are archived in Bankshal Court, Kolkata ( 9th Court of Presidency Magistrate, Case No. GR. 579 of 1965; State of West Bengal Vs Malay Roy Choudhury

Malay Roy Choudhury

(2)Hungry Kimbadanti written by Malay Roy Choudhury

Malay Roy Choudhury

and published by De Books, Kolkata (1997)

(3)Hungry Andolon issue of Haowa 49 magazine (2003) edited by Samir Roychoudhury

Samir Roychoudhury

Samir Roychowdhury , one of the founding fathers of the Hungry Generation 1961-1965 ,was born at Panihati, West Bengal, India in a family of artists, sculptors, photographers and musicians...

and Murshid A. M.

Dissertations

Hungry, Shruti And Shastravirodhi Movements by Dr Uttam Das, published by Mahadiganta Publishers, Baruipur, South 24 Pargana, West Bengal, India. (1986).
Hungryalist Manifestoes by Ebaul Haque, published by Abar Eshechhi Phirey Publishers, Murshidabad, West Bengal, India (2007).
Hungryalist Movement and Anti-Establishment by Prof Swati Banerjee from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata (2007).

US and South American periodicals

Citylights Journal #1 (1963)pp. 7–25;
El Corno Emplumado #9 (1964)pp. 153;
El Corno Emplumado #10 (1964)pp. 129–130;
Citylights Journal #2 (1964)pp. 117–130;
Kulchur #15 (1964)pp. 104–105;
TIME (November 20, 1964)pp. 44;
El Corno Emplumado #13 (1965)pp. 184–185;
Evergreen Review #5 (March 1965)pp. 10;
Salted Feathers #5 (May 1965)pp. 9;
Salted Feathers #8 & 9 (March 1967)pp. All pages;
Citylights Journal #3 (1966)pp. 21–45;
Trace #53 (1964)pp. 31–43;
El Rehelite #28 (1964)pp. 47–54;
Panaroma (February 1965);
Iconolatre#10 (1968).

Indian periodicals

Samprati #3 (1962);
Chatushparna #Winter (1963);
Mahenjodaro#Autumn (1963);
Link #June,2 (1963);
Link #June,30(1963);
Gyanodaya #Winter (1963);
Darpan #July, 18 (1964);
Jugantar July, 18 (1964);
Jugantar July, 19, (1964);
Jugantar September,7, Editorial, (1964);
Jugantar August, 7 (1965);
Jugantar September, 6 (1965);
Amrita Shravana,8 (1378)
Amrita August,7 (1964);
Ananda Bazar Patrika September, 4 (1964);
Adhikaran #1 (1964);
Ananda Bazar Patrika Septemcer, 5 (1964);
Dainik Basumati September, 5 (1964);
Dainik Basumati September,7 (1964);
Ananda Bazar Patrika September,7 (1964);
Ananda Bazar Patrika September 8, Cartoon, (1964);
Ananda Bazar Patrika September,30 (1964);
Ananda Bazar Patrika May, 4 (1965);
Blitz September, 19 (1964);
Jalsa September, 30 (1964);
Janata September,4 (1964);
Janata September, 18 (1964);
Janata October, Cartoon, (1964);
Bharatmail October, 22 (1964);
Desh Ashwin, 10 (1371);
Naranari Ashwin, (1371);
Now November, 20 (1964);
Darpan November, 27 (1964);
Ananda Bazar Patrika December, 2 (1964);
Now December, 18 (1964);
The Statesman December, 20 (1964);
The Statesman December, 30 (1964);
Tele Link December, 20 (1934);
Link May, 8 (1966);
Maral January (1965);
Lahar January, (1965);
Dharmayug January, 17 (1965);
Dharmayug February, 7 (1965);
Dharmayug February, 14 (1965);
Dharmayug March 7, (1965);
Dharmayug March, 18 (1965);
Dharmayug April, 18 (1965);
Dharmayug April, 25 (1965);
Dharmayug May, 23 (1965);
Dharmayug June, 27 (1965);
Krittibas (1965);
Jugantar April, 15 Editorial (1965);
The Statesman April, 20 (1965);
Sanmarg April, 20 (1965);
Gyanodaya April (1965);
Ananda Bazar Patrika April, 20 (1965);
The Statesman May, 4 (1965);
Yugaprabhat May (1965);
Pratibimba May–August (1965);
Ananda Bazar Patrika May, 14 (1965);
Dinaman May, 16 (1965);
Dinaman June, 6 (1965);
Saptahik Hindustan June, 13 (1965);
Saptahik Hindustan June, 27 (1965);
Saptahik Hindustan July, 4 (1965);
Saptahik Hindustan August, 22 (1965);
Janasatta July, 4 (1965);
Hindustan Standard August 10 (1965);
The Statesman September, 26 (1965);
Ingeet October, 3 (1965);
Anima #2 (1965);
Anima #4 (1965);
Chatushparna Chaitra (1371);
The Searchlight December, 25 (1965);
Desh Chaitra (1373);
Nayee Dhara December (1966);
Yugaprabhat February (1967);
Karuj#7, (2003);
Disha Autumn, (2003);
Kabitirtha July, (2003);
Amritalok November, (2003);
Ekaler Raktakarabi June, (2004);
Digangan Autumn, (2004);
Ebang August–October, (2004);
Kabitamancha#5 (2006)

External links

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