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Involving a female in his life – dirtying himself with the meaning invested in this involvement, in soured milk and slime and stupidity, in disgorged bile and fire and dissatisfaction, what has he become? Jibanananda Das (1899-1954), often considered the greatest Bengali modernist poet, was best known for his bleak poetry. He was an introvert and did not publish much of his writing while he was alive, and his novels were published posthumously. Das died at the age of 55 in a tram accident.

Eyewitness accounts state the tram had sounded its whistle but it appeared the poet had chosen to ignore it. Some even claim the accidental death might have been a suicide. Das’s most well-known novel Malloban was published in 1970, and translated recently by Rebecca Whittington.



Utpala and Malloban Set in the winter of 1929 in North Calcutta, the eponymous protagonist is a low-income office worker at an unnamed company in the city. He lives in College Street with his moody, foul-mouthed but beautiful wife Utpala and their daughter Monu. Malloban, who has “never managed to mould himself into the proper object of his wife’s affection and esteem”, is reminded every day of the ways he has failed to be a good, manly husband.

He is banished to the ground floor by his wife, Utpala, who sneers and chastises him whenever he expresses his desire to share the bed with her and their daughter. His section of the house is in complete disarray and rarely visited by his family. Meanwhile, Utpala.

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