The Opposite Bank and Other Poems – a translation of poems by Ramachandra Pramanik from Bengali to English

Dr. Sreejata Paul, PhD , Assistant Professor, Department of English, Shiv Nadar University , has authored the book The Opposite Bank and Other Poems, a translation of poems by Ramachandra Pramanik from Bengali to English.

Translation has, in different ways, been crucial to Dr. Paul’s literary-critical scholarship since her doctoral research. Her PhD dissertation, for instance, centered the work of Muslim women writers from colonial Bengal, which she unearthed from archives in Kolkata, Dhaka, and London, and then went on to digitize as well as translate. The slow and rigorous process of translation allowed her to examine the influence of Perso-Arabic vocabulary and literary forms on these women’s writing.

Speaking about her work, Dr. Paul says: “In music theory, a harmony stacks notes above and below the root note to add texture and depth to the melody. Translation works in much the same way… I hope that I’ve been able to conjure other aural contexts and lifeworlds for Pramanik’s poems to circulate in.”