Upanyas Samagra 1 by Sunil Gangopadhyay [Hardcover]

In the 1960s, when poet Sunil Gangopadhyay was writing his first novel Jubak-Jubatira (The Youths) purely out of his own whim, without any pressure to publish it, the Bengali novel had already undergone several transformations. The characters in the stories of this time no longer sought liberation in the dreamy realm of romance but in introspection and self-absorption. The youth had set out to find the meaning of life—completely on their own terms. Yet, the connections in life seemed broken, and words had lost their meanings. Still, readers did not fail to recognize their anguish.

Sunil Gangopadhyay himself identified this context as a period of "unexplained restlessness," rooted in the deep pain of the search for identity. His defining debut as a novelist came with Atmaprakash (Self-Revelation). With this novel, he began a remarkable journey across the vast and boundless landscape of Bengali fiction—a journey that continues to this day. Sunil Gangopadhyay has now become an institution in the world of Bengali novels.

As a successful novelist, he has mastered narrative craftsmanship, character portrayal, the construction of complex human figures, a sense of time, values, skillful selection of diverse stories, a passionate inquiry into life, a search for truth, and artistic elegance. In all these areas, he stands unique and brilliant. His novels are a treasure of Bengali fiction. From his first novel to those written at the dawn of the 21st century, Sunil remains equally vibrant and lively. Under his hand, the novel has gained a new stature as a form of art.

There is now a plan to publish all of Sunil Gangopadhyay’s novels in volumes. Upanyas Samagra 1 (Complete Novels, Volume 1) is the first result of this effort. This volume contains seven novels: Atmaprakash, Jubak-Jubatira, Sukh Osukh (Happiness and Sorrow), Aranyer Dinratri (Days and Nights in the Forest), Hridaye Prabash (Exile in the Heart), Pratidwandi (The Adversary), and Rupali Manabi (The Silver Woman).