Bengali Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist, Playwright, Poet Buddhadeva Bose. He was an influential critic and editor of his time. He is recognised as one of the five poets who moved to introduce modernity into Bengali poetry. It is said that since Rabindranath Tagore, there has not been a more versatile talent in Bengali literature.
One of his most important contributions to the Bengali literary scene was the establishment of the Kavita (Poetry) – the flagship poetry magazine in Bengali, which he published and edited for 25 years. His first book of poetry, namely, “Bandir Bandona” was published when he was only seventeen years old. Although he worked as a teacher at different colleges and universities, he devoted his whole life to literature. This is symbolized by the name of his residence in Calcutta which was Kaviata Bhavan (‘The House of Poetry’).
His first novel, “SaDa”, was published when he was 18, in 1930. He wrote more than 40 novels, but his epic novel “Tithidore”, published in 1949, became his most admired novel which is now considered a classic. He published more than 160 titles during his lifetime. So far 200 books have been published. However, many pieces remain to be anthologized as yet. He was a hard worker and writing was his life. He began his day at 9 in the morning and would regularly work until 10 at night. Work, for him, meant writing.
Without undermining his genius, it can be said that Buddhadeva Bose wrote poetry essentially under the influence of Western literature. But, in his early works he showed clear influence of Rabindranath Tagore. But both in terms of theme and style, he reflected marked influence of renowned Western poets of whom Baudelaire should be named foremost. He was also influenced by Ezra Pound, William Butler Yeats, Rilke and T. S. Eliot. Allegedly, he believed in ‘arts for arts sake’. He was a perfectionist as a writer and emphasized on technical perfection of his works.
Buddhadeva Bose received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1967 for his verse play Tapaswi O Tarangini, received the Rabindra Puraskar in 1974 for Swagato Biday(poetry) and was honoured with a Padma Bhushan in 1970.
