MouthShut.com Would Like to Send You Push Notifications. Notification may includes alerts, activities & updates.

OTP Verification

Enter 4-digit code
For Business
MouthShut Logo
Upload Photo

MouthShut Score

100%
4.64 

Readability:

Story:

×

Upload your product photo

Supported file formats : jpg, png, and jpeg

Address



Contact Number

Cancel

I feel this review is:

Fake
Genuine

To justify genuineness of your review kindly attach purchase proof
No File Selected

Aliso viejo United States of America
Joi satyajit da, joi feluda...
Sep 05, 2007 11:31 AM 19964 Views
(Updated Sep 08, 2007 03:59 AM)

Readability:

Story:

*Satayajit Ray ~The Adventures of Feluda


*It’s translated by Chitrita Banerjee in 1988 from bengali works of Satayajit Ray. (Interestingly she has worked under Vir Sanghvi :-) and has acknowledged him in start :-)


Paperback ~ 267 Pages (Year: 1988)


Publisher - Penguin ~ ISBN: 0140112219


(First Published in Bengali by Ananda Publishers, 1971-1981)


Old rates printed on the book I lay my hand on ~ India Rs 60, UK £3.99 and US $7.95


Well I was a fan of satayjit ray’s movies from a long long time. Thanks to DD for showing those numerous classics on late nights on Sat and Sun afternoon. I knew Ray was also an excellent writer but never got a chance to read his work as I don’t understand bangla the language in which he has written most of his work.


By luck I land up sharing an appt with a bong and he has a marvelous collection of Bangla movies and hell lot of books most of the titles I wanted to read but didn’t read due to lack of time. Even after getting this golden treasure I kept postponing seeing movies and reading books then one fine day I come to know I have to wrap up from this place so I think of finishing atleast one book before I move from here so I pick up Satayajit Ray ~The Adventures of Feluda.



I had only heard about feluda till now now I was going to read his work btw just few days back I had seen JOY BABA FELUNATH in bangla on a DVD(same friends collection) so I had a fair idea of feluda’s operating style. My opinion on Ray’s writing become stronger only after a few pages the book was unputdownable and I finally finished each story in one sitting and finished the book sooner then planned though took much much more time in coming back to MS to review it.



Now about the book-


The Penguin edition of *The Adventures of Feluda contains four novellas of the incomparable Bengali detective Feluda –


The Golden Fortress (Shonar Kella),


*The Buccaneer of Bombay (Bombaaiyer Bombete),


*Mystery at Golok Lodge (Golok Dham Rohosyo), * and


Trouble in the Graveyard (Gorosthaane Saabdhaan)


The novellas in this collection are the author's own favorites from among the numerous Feluda stories he has written. Feluda, urbane, intellectually-inclined, trademark Charminar in mouth, sets out to solve a series of particularly baffling crimes ranging from a kidnapping in Rajasthan to a locked-room murder in an old Calcutta house.


Each story starts with Feluda and Topshe at home, a client arrives and frames the mystery, and the trio set off on their adventures. Feluda is a combination of mental and physical skills -- tall, agile, sharp and in fine shape due to his early-morning yoga -- and all his skills are called upon during the course of the stories. All stories are set in different cities so the local touch of that city is there that shows Ray was a well traveled man.


There is a distinct influence of the Conan Doyle Stories as Feluda is a lot like Sherlock Holmes. There are three Central characters in the book – Prodosh Mitter (Feluda) , his assistant Tapesh Mitter (his fourteen year old cousin) and Lalmohan Ganguli ( Jatayu – A writer of cheap and popular thrillers).To read more about these characters one can read the review by coolcritic007 @   https://mouthshut.com/review/Feluda_Stories_-_Satyajit_Ray-78820-1.html


Feluda's world is strange in one notable respect -- there are no womens!!!. He is entirely surrounded by men. He has no aunts or female cousins which is common in large extended families. Every person he comes across is male, as is every character on the roadside or in a train. There are little boys, but no little girls. Was satayjit ray uncomfortable with women characters??, but isn’t he the same person who created Charulata, Durga and Arati in his movies.


The translation is smooth and has got a flow which keeps you bind to the story till you finish it, but the translators US influence is evident in many places like 'There was a gas station nearby'. Gas station? In India its Petrol pump then there is distance mentioned in miles in one novel and in km in the other.


In the foreword to the book, Ray says that he loved the Sherlock Holmes stories as a child, and the structure of the Feluda stories is very similar. They were originally written in Bengali for *Sandesh, * the children's magazine that his grandfather started in 1913.   The response to the first Feluda story startled him - as he writes, 'I scarcely imagined he would prove so popular that I would be forced to write a Feluda novel every year.' .. wow.. I am looking forward to reading few more now. He might have written it keeping children’s in mind but it has a popular pull for all ages.


About the Author


Bharat Ratna Satyajit Ray was born in Calcutta in 1921 and graduated from Presidency College, studied art at Rabindranath Tagore's university Santiniketan. He was honored with the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement by the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences, Apart from being a film maker, Satyajit was also a writer of repute. He published several novels in Bengali most of which were best sellers. Satyajit Ray died in Calcutta in 1992.


*THE TRANSLATOR:


*Chitrita Banerji was born in 1947 and was educated at Presidency College, Calcutta and Harvard University, USA. She has translated Bengali short stories into English for literary magazines and the BBC. As per the book she is presently the Assistant Editor of Sunday Magazine, Calcutta (20 year old book).



Open to comments, ratings and discussions.*


P.S – The info on Author and Translator is taken from the cover of the book just reworded.


Upload Photo

Upload Photos


Upload photo files with .jpg, .png and .gif extensions. Image size per photo cannot exceed 10 MB


Comment on this review

Read All Reviews

YOUR RATING ON

Feluda Stories - Satyajit Ray
1
2
3
4
5
X