![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sfintranslation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/bengali.jpg\")
<\/figure>edited and translated by Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n MIT Press (part of the Radium Age Book Series), 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n grab a copy here<\/a> or through your local independent bookstore or library<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Contents:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Inhumans<\/em> (Amanushik Manush<\/em>) (1935) by Hemendrakumar Roy<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Voyage to Venus” (“Shukra Bhraman”) (1895) by Jagadananda Ray<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The Mystery of the Giant” (“Danab Rahassya”) (1931) by Nanigopal Majumdar<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The Martian Purana” (“Mangal Purana”) (1931) by Manoranjan Bhattacharya<\/p>\n\n\n\n The latest in MIT Press’s Radium Age series, The Inhumans and Other Stories: A Selection of Bengali Science Fiction<\/em> is part of a growing corpus of Southeast Asian sf being translated into English. This is very good news for readers interested in growing their knowledge of world sf and its various iterations and traditions. Thanks to editor and translator Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, one of the editors of Indian Genre Fiction: Pasts and Future Histories<\/em> (2018) and Kalicalypse: Subcontinental Science Fiction<\/em> (2022), Anglophone readers now have access to some fascinating stories from Bengali writers of the 1930s (and even one from 1895). Explaining in his introduction that all of these stories grapple with colonial realities and tropes that were being developed in the Anglophone world (including the popular Lost World trope), Chattopadhyay introduces us to writers who found their places in the Bangla popular literature of the early 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the most interesting points in the introduction is Chattopadhyay’s discussion of how literary magazines in colonial Bengal were genre melting pots: “translations, puzzles, short fiction, serialized novels, news of inventions and discoveries, historical articles, stories from mythological sources, geographical pieces, political commentary,…children’s fiction, comedy, fantasy, myth-fiction, and sf could all be found here,” along with translations of Conan Doyle, Wells, Burroughs, and Verne (translated or adapted by the author of The Inhumans<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout this fascinating anthology, I found myself wanting more<\/em>: more historical context, more explanations, more commentary from Chattopadhyay (that introduction is excellent). I understand that this volume is supposed to be reader-friendly, and so the number of endnotes was small (also, did I ever mention that I loathe endnotes? Footnotes FTW!). Basically, what I wanted was a Ulysses<\/em>-style annotated text- I wanted (yes, I’m greedy) margin<\/em> notes on every page, because I am woefully ignorant of Bengali culture. But it’s precisely anthologies like this that make me want to learn more (and also cry because even if I lived to 800, I wouldn’t have time to learn all the things I want to learn! But I digress…).<\/p>\n\n\n\n To the stories: be prepared to find yourself thinking “wait, what<\/em> just happened?” at least three times in every tale, because wow, some very<\/em> strange things are happening. In the title story, which is divided into two parts, a Bengali man travels to Africa for a hunting expedition. Included in the tale is an extended extract from the real book Kill or Be Killed: The Rambling Reminiscences of an Amateur Hunter<\/em> (1933) by W. Robert Foran, describing the gorgeous and dangerous African landscape and its wildlife. When the narrator goes hunting gorillas in the jungle, he encounters the “Valakhilyas,” the smallest people on the planet. They act as guides, but then grow fearful when the camp gets raided multiple times by an unknown (possibly not human?) entity. The narrator becomes obsessed with figuring out the mystery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second part of the narrative, set in Uganda, focuses on the “Juju Mountain,” said to be inhabited by some sort of malevolent force. As in the first part, here what is said to be supernatural by the native people turns out to be something…not mundane, but definitely not supernatural. I’ll just say it involves a very hungry lion. The narrator then finds a diary, left by another Bengali hunter years before, and the rest of the narrative is quoted from that diary, involving a bizarre species of human that has evolved to no longer need a skeletal structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n