Writer's info/Biography: Manik Bandopadhayay
Manik Bandopadhyay was born on May 19, 1908 in a small town called Dumka in Santhal Parganas of West Bengal. His original name was Prabodh Kumar Bandopadhyay. Hi father’s name was Harihar Bandopadhyay and mother’s name was Neeroda Devi. Manik Bandopadhyay is undeniably one of the leading champions of modern Bengali fiction writing. He took Science as his Honours subject in Presidency College but he quitted his course. He started his career s a teacher in Mymensingh Teacher’s training School but he deserted it too. He served as a publisher in the editorial staff of Bangashree.
During the short span of life of 48 years, Manik Bandopadhyay suffered extreme hardship of financial crisis and illness. He died on December 3, 1956. Manik was very adventurous in nature from his childhood. He lost his mother at the age of sixteen and since then he cut his link with his family. He married Kamala Devi. His first story Atasi mami was published in Bichitra paper. His stories and novels got published in papers like Ananda Bazar Patrika, Bangashree, Probasi, Agami, Jugantar and many others.
He got epilepsy attacks and gave way to alcohol. The epilepsy was severe during his composition of Padmanadir Majhi and Putulnacher Itikatha. His writing arena was filled with the misery of human existence. He unravelled the dark aspects of human psyche. The themes of his stories revolve around the hypocrisy and cowardice of human character. His three successive novels Dibaratrir Kabyo, Padmanadir Majhi and Putulnacher Itikatha were yarned in the context of simple urban or rural community. Their recognition by the readers gave him a firm foothold as a powerful Bengali novelist since Bankimchandra. His analysis and treatment of the contour and characters of his novels followed a Freudian approach and Marxist interpretation. He took the help of colloquial vocabulary to neatly illustrate the gradual culmination of his narratives. More Popular Books are Dibaratrir Kabyo, Holud Nodi, Sobuj Bon, Chotuskon etc.
