Nabarun Bhattacharya (–2014)

Dark Farce
Review of the English translation edition (New Directions 2019) of the Bengali original হারবার্ট (1993).

This recent translation of the 1993 Bengali cult novel includes an extensive Afterword by Siddhartha Deb and extensive Notes by translator Sunandini Banerjee. These are the type of translation editions that I appreciate and love the most as they endeavour to provide increased context and interpretation for readers who may not be familiar with the language and culture of the author and his world. Harbart definitely does this very well.

I suppose I had hoped for an ending that provided for some sort of clever triumph by the anti-hero Harbart Sarkar after his grifting career of communing with the dead is exposed by a team of myth-busters. The ending instead was sad and pathetic, with an added bizarre and murderous twist. I should probably also admit that my Eastern European background makes for an aversion to anything where the Communists are portrayed as the heroes, although admittedly the Indian Naxalite movement here is seen as the downtrodden being persecuted and murdered by the authorities. My mood probably wasn't in tune to appreciate all of the dark farce aspects of this short novella but I still very much appreciated the packaging of this edition. It seems like a strong candidate for the International Booker or Best Translated Book Award down the road.

The translation read very well and the extensive notes on the italicized Bengali words were helpful throughout and did not disrupt the reading flow.

Trivia and Links
This seems to be the second English language translation, with Harbart translated by Arunava Sinha appearing in 2011 for the South Asian market.

See the trailer on YouTube for Herbert (2005) the film adaptation directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay here (includes English subtitles). The film also has a cult following.

You can view the entire Herbert (2005) film here, also with English subtitles.… (altro)