Samaresh Basu Rachanabali 1 [Hardcover]

Someone once said that Samresh Basu was the "Prince of Bengali literature." Critics might dismiss this statement as an exaggeration. But can we deny that, in literature, he was a massive talent, like a towering tree? With a spirit of struggle to turn adversity into opportunity, he rose from humble beginnings to the heights of fame and recognition. Just as his literature took many different turns in themes and style, like a flowing river, his life also moved forward in a similarly diverse path, spreading the colors of life.

He had no intense moral or idealistic pretensions about life. In his way of living, in his approach to survival, he was completely unique. Life and literature had become one for him, and that is why there was no deception in his creations. He himself wrote: "Whatever responsibility literature holds, it is in the hands of life. Life is greater than literature; a writer doesn't need deep practice to realize this truth, for it is always very much alive." Flesh-and-blood men and women, grounded in the earth in every sense, came into the struggle of his literature. He never excluded anyone, never turned anyone away. He believed in exploring the depths of human nature through physical relationships, which often led to him being misunderstood.

Samresh believed that to truly capture life, one couldn’t just be an artist of life; one had to be a hunter of life as well. This is exactly what he seemed to be. A life artist and a life hunter, the first phase or "dawn" of Samresh’s literary life began with "Noyonpurer Mati" (The Soil of Noyonpur). Though his first published novel was "Uttorang", it was second in terms of writing chronology. From the beginning to the end of his life, Samresh changed the direction of his novels. He never stayed in one place.

This first volume contains four of his novels published between 1951 and 1953: Noyonpurer Mati, Uttarang, B.T. Road-er Dhaare, and Shreemoti Cafe. It also includes three of his short story collections from the period 1953-56: Moroshumer Ekdin, Akaal Brishti, and Shashtho Ritu. The distinct psychological experiences of Samresh the novelist and Samresh the short story writer are analyzed in an exceptional way by Samresh’s childhood friend, Professor Saroj Bandopadhyay, in the preface to this volume.