Kolkata: Leading contemporary Bengali poet Subodh Sarkar has been invited by Harvard University to give a talk on the place of India in Allen Ginsberg’s poetry on the occasion of the centennial of Ginsberg’s birth, followed by a reading of his own poetry in both Bengali and its English translation. Ginsberg is regarded as a pivotal poet and leading figure of the Beat Generation, a post-World War II countercultural movement that rejected 1950s conformity, materialism and sexual repression. Harvard’s connection with Bengal’s poets has made headlines since the time Rabindranath Tagore delivered lectures there in 1913 and 1921.Sarkar, who is currently at Harvard, considers this invitation a landmark for contemporary Bengali poetry. The event was hosted together with professor Sugata Bose, professor Spencer Lee-Lenfield and the Harvard University Asia Centre. “It is a privilege for me and pride for Bengali and Indian literature to be invited by the same university where Tagore, too, delivered lectures,” Sarkar said.He remembered his meeting with the revolutionary American poet and writer some 35 years ago in New York. “In 1992, I first came to NYC to meet Allen and interview him for my research book. In my interview, he told me that Bengali poetry was deep and good and shared how he was moved by the Shakti-Sunil generation of poets,” he added.Sarkar considers Ginsberg “a revolutionary American poet and the chief exponent of the Beat generation movement in American poetry who dropped a bomb on the White House by bringing out a slender book of poems called ‘Howl'”. The cops and customs seized copies of ‘Howl’ in 1956 and a subsequent obscenity trial in 1957 attracted widespread publicity due to the poem’s language and descriptions of heterosexual and homosexual sex. “I remember him saying that the obscenity trial led to the changes of law in America regarding non-obscenity. Later, Ginsberg came to India in search of a spiritual life. He was told in Benaras that guru resides within his heart. Then he came to Birbhum with Shakti Chattopadhyay and Sunil Gangopadhyay and was transformed as a baul poet after reading Lalan Fakir and meeting Purna Das Baul. He brought Purna Das Baul to New York to perform with Bob Dylan. His Indian connection was so deep in his poetry,” Sarkar said.In his centenary year, Harvard decided that an Indian poet should come and read about this connection. “I have been asked to read my original Bengali poetry for an hour along with their English translations. The translations have been done by David Lee Morgan and Birbhum-based Matralina Pati. Matralina is a PhD scholar from Bankura. I think it is important that Harvard is endorsing Bengal’s connect and contribution to American literature and culture.“
