Amiya Chakravarty

Amiya Chandra Chakravarty(Bengali: অমিয় চক্রবর্তী) (1901-1986) was a literary critic from India and also a Sahitya Akademi Award recipient Bengali Poet.

Early life

He studied in Hare School, Calcutta and graduated from St. Columba’s College of Hazaribagh, which was under Patna University then.p247, Religious Faith and World Culture, Amandus William Loos, ISBN 0836919769, [http://books.google.com/books?id=5MldgZEyiNwC&pg=PA247&dq=amiya&as_brr=3&sig=ACfU3U3muWyhX-Osg9F2KOuAzoHI9aJBUg from Google books result] ] He joined Visva-Bharati University in 1921 as a student. Later, he became a teacher there.

Works

He was literary secretary to Rabindranath Tagore from 1924 to 1933. During this time, he was a close associate of the poet and shared his thoughts regarding contemporary political events. He was Rabindranath's travel companion during his tours to Europe and America in 1930 and to Iran and Iraq in 1932. [http://www.peacecouncil.net/history/PNLs1941-50/PNL128-1948.pdf A document from peacecouncil.net] ]

He was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi also and attended World Pacifist Congress in Gandhi's Ashrama. He walked with Gandhi in the Salt March of 1930. [ [http://srv2.lycoming.edu/~hughes/speechJan06.htm A speech by Richard Hughes] ]

In 1937, he was awarded a D.Phil from Oxford University. During the years 1937 to 1940, he was a Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University. During this time, he taught in Selly Oak College in Birmingham as a fellow lecturer. Later he became Professor of English in Calcutta University in 1940.

He was an advisor to Indian Delegation at United Nations.

In 1948, he went to USA to join Department of English in Howard University. He was a visiting fellow in English at Yale University. He was a fellow of Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton during 1950-51. [ [http://www.admin.ias.edu/library/hs/da/cos.pdf a document from IAS Princeton] ] He was a Professor of Comparative Oriental Religions and Literature in the department of Missions and World Religions, Boston University in 1953. [ [http://www.bu.edu/sth/focus/winter01/reflections.htm Boston University Article on Theological Education] ] [ [http://gospelink.com/next/doc?book_doc_id=224861 An introduction from a page in gospelink.com] ]

He wrote both poetry and prose and a number of articles in journals of India, England and USA. He wrote a dozen of verse collections in Bengali, most notable among these are "Chalo Jai" and "Ghare Pherar Din".p 510, Modern Indian Literature, an Anthology: Volume I, K. M. George, Sahitya Akademi, ISBN 8172013248, [http://books.google.com/books?id=m1R2Pa3f7r0C&pg=PA510&dq=amiya&as_brr=3&sig=ACfU3U3g5Ak8pGmKMzI608DNW5qX0DiF4w#PPA510,M1 from Google books result] ] His poetry reflects idealism, humanism and a great love in nature and beauty. He was awarded the Unesco Prize for his book, "Chalo Jai". In 1963, he received the Sahitya Akademi Award for "Ghare Pherar Din". He authored the book "Dynasts and the Post-war Age in Poetry", which is a critic work on Thomas Hardy's poetry. [ [http://www.yale.edu/hardysoc/Welcome/COLLECTION.htm List of Early Criticism on Thomas Hardy's works] ]

He edited a number of English translations of Tagore's works. Most well-known among these are: "A Tagore Reader" (1961) and "The Housewarming and other Selected Writings" (1965). He was a consulting editor for "The Asian journal of Thomas Merton" by Thomas Merton. [ [http://isbndb.com/d/person/merton_thomas/books.html ISBNDB page for Thomas Merton's books] ]

Recognition

* Padma Bhushan from the Govt. of India (1970)
* The Deshikottama from Visva-Bharati
* Sahitya Akademi Award (1963) [ [http://www.sahitya-akademi.org/sahitya-akademi/awa10302.htm#bengali List of Sahitya Akademi Award recepients (Bengali)] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.visva-bharati.ac.in/GreatMasters/Contents/amiyachakraborty.htm Visva-bharati page on Amiya Chakravarty]
* [http://cscsarchive.org:8081/MediaArchive/Library.nsf/(docid)/4C58CA028E0ACE3D65257138002FB4B0?OpenDocument&StartKey=Amiya&Count=100 Excerpts from a 1993 book on Amiya Chakravarty]
* [http://baudelaireetbengale.blogspot.com/ Influence of Baudelaire on Bengali Poetry]
* [http://pamphlets.quaker.org/wpl1950p.html William Penn Lecture by Amiya Chakravarty on Gandhi's work and message (1950)]