Niranjan Mondal’s a Tale of the High and Low Tides: Dalit Literature from Bangla

Niranjan Mondal is one of the most prolific writers of Dalit literature in Bangla known for his immersive fictions that root themselves in the lives of people from the Sundarbans, the mangrove forest in east India. This volume of the translation of his novel, A Tale of High and Low Tides (Ujaan Bhatir Kathokata), along with critical essays and an interview of the author, introduces his work to a new readership.

Mondal’s writings highlight the unique lived experiences of the inhabitants of the Sundarbans and are meditative explorations of the links between caste and expression, nature and human life, and the ’centre’ and the ’margin’. This book creates a dialogue between the body of literature that is visible and that which is not, as well as between biography and literature. Mondal’s own views on contemporary life, society, and literature--both mainstream and marginalized--will help readers understand the relationship between literature and its social context. The volume creates an academic framework within which Mondal’s fiction can be read, appreciated and critically analysed.

Part of the Voices from the Margins series, this critical edition will be an important resource for students of literature, comparative literature, modern Indian literature, translation studies, minority studies, Dalit studies, and gender studies. It will also be of interest to those engaged in contemporary Indian/South Asian literary cultures, social sciences, history and sociology.

Niranjan Mondal, the author of Ujaan Bhatir Kathokota, was born in the village Kochukhali adjacent to the Sundarbans in 1955. He used to work in a nationalized bank in India, but his passion has been literature. He has published several volumes of poetry including Ofuran aranyaneel (1988) and Bishonno canvas (2014). A collected volume of his short stories has been published with the title Badaboner padaboli. He lives and breathes the history, nature, anthropology, ecology of the Sundarbans.

Sucheta Bhattacharya the translator as well as editor of this volume is currently Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. Her research interest includes mid-nineteenth century English and Bangla literature, with focus on the ’marginalized’ authors and texts. She is also a keen translator and has contributed to several translation anthologies, both fiction and non-fiction. She is a co-editor of the series ’Studies in Comparative Literature’ published by Jadavpur University Department of Comparative Literature and Orient-Blackswan. She is also currently editing a volume of translations of Bangla short stories focusing on Indo-Bangladesh border experiences as part of the same series, to be published in 2025.