Kaurab
Encyclopedia
Kaurab is a Bengali language
literary magazine
representing innovative, alternative, non-mainstream and experimental genres of Indian literature
with an emphasis on poetry and poetics. In vogue for more than three decades, Kaurab continuously streams alternative genres of literature and has published scores of innovative Bengali writers. While some of them are deemed legendary and have been evaluated as literary myths, what keeps the wheel churning at Kaurab today is a whole new generation of creative writing.
The Kaurab literary movement never owned an official manifesto. However, like any other literary upsurge, the emergence of the core group was largely necessitated by social and literary developments in India a quarter century after independence from British colonial rule. The core Kaurab poets and writers represent an interesting break with earlier traditions. Mainstream Bangla literature, back then, was in the thrall of the social, political and cultural upheavals precipitated by the Naxalite
movement. While Kaurab, as a literary group, had a camaraderie with the Hungry Generation
and other writers of Bengal, it largely attempted to accentuate a fresh and marginal voice that was unheard in Bangla literature. In contrast to the previous literary movements and coteries of the 1960s, Kaurab writers demonstrated greater variety and individuality, a complete nonchalance to existing literary stereotypes, political aloofness, a deep desire to reconnect with the sub-altern, language experiments involving the inner diaspora and a certain high-dreaming flamboyance which little magazines normally undervalue. A lot of these values can be directly attributed to Kaurab's founder editor Kamal Chakrabarty and fellow poets - Swadesh Sen, Barin Ghosal, Debajyoti Dutta, Shankar Lahiri, Aryanil Mukhopadhyay & others.
The Kaurab Magazine (Kaurab Patrikaa) has been in print since 1970. In 1982 it won the D. K. Gupta award as the most distinguished Bengali literary magazine. Kaurab's online version, Kaurab Online, is an electronic webzine of poetry and poetics, and houses an international translation and poetry book review archive. The webzine began in 1998.
The print magazine is currently bi-annual while the webzine is tri-annual.
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
literary magazine
Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
representing innovative, alternative, non-mainstream and experimental genres of Indian literature
Indian literature
Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Republic of India has 22 officially recognized languages....
with an emphasis on poetry and poetics. In vogue for more than three decades, Kaurab continuously streams alternative genres of literature and has published scores of innovative Bengali writers. While some of them are deemed legendary and have been evaluated as literary myths, what keeps the wheel churning at Kaurab today is a whole new generation of creative writing.
The Kaurab literary movement never owned an official manifesto. However, like any other literary upsurge, the emergence of the core group was largely necessitated by social and literary developments in India a quarter century after independence from British colonial rule. The core Kaurab poets and writers represent an interesting break with earlier traditions. Mainstream Bangla literature, back then, was in the thrall of the social, political and cultural upheavals precipitated by the Naxalite
Naxalite
The word Naxal, Naxalite or Naksalvadi is a generic term used to refer to various militant Communist groups operating in different parts of India under different organizational envelopes...
movement. While Kaurab, as a literary group, had a camaraderie with the Hungry Generation
Hungry generation
The Hungry Generation was a literary movement in the Bengali language launched by what is known today as the Hungryalist quartet i.e. Shakti Chattopadhyay, Malay Roy Choudhury, Samir Roychoudhury and Debi Roy alias Haradhon Dhara, during the 1960s in Kolkata, India...
and other writers of Bengal, it largely attempted to accentuate a fresh and marginal voice that was unheard in Bangla literature. In contrast to the previous literary movements and coteries of the 1960s, Kaurab writers demonstrated greater variety and individuality, a complete nonchalance to existing literary stereotypes, political aloofness, a deep desire to reconnect with the sub-altern, language experiments involving the inner diaspora and a certain high-dreaming flamboyance which little magazines normally undervalue. A lot of these values can be directly attributed to Kaurab's founder editor Kamal Chakrabarty and fellow poets - Swadesh Sen, Barin Ghosal, Debajyoti Dutta, Shankar Lahiri, Aryanil Mukhopadhyay & others.
The Kaurab Magazine (Kaurab Patrikaa) has been in print since 1970. In 1982 it won the D. K. Gupta award as the most distinguished Bengali literary magazine. Kaurab's online version, Kaurab Online, is an electronic webzine of poetry and poetics, and houses an international translation and poetry book review archive. The webzine began in 1998.
The print magazine is currently bi-annual while the webzine is tri-annual.