Understanding Book Review - Using "Khirer Putul - The Doll of Condensed Milk" by Abanindranath Tagore (Translation by Amita Ray) As A Practical Example

Understanding Book Review: Using “Khirer
Putul – the Doll of Condensed Milk” by

Abanindranath Tagore (Translation by Amita
Prepared by-
Debdyuti Das
Ray) as a Practical Example
M.Phil Student, Department of Folklore
University of Kalyani.
Departmental Roll Number- 06
Presentation for Paper-II
1
ABOUT BOOK REVIEWS :
What is the importance of book reviews?
A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is analyzed based on content, style, and merit. It can be a primary source
opinion piece, summary review or scholarly review.
What should an academic book review contain?

In an ideal world, an academic book review should contain constructive criticism, and honest appraisal of the good and the bad. The reviewer
should set aside his or her own ego and explain what the book contributes to the overall conversation. Most academic reviews follow a very
similar format.
How long is a book review?

A book review's length may vary from a single paragraph to a substantial essay. Such a review may evaluate the book on the basis of
personal taste. Reviewers may use the occasion of a book review for a display of learning or to promulgate their own ideas on the topic of a
fiction or non-fiction work.
1) AUTHOR : Abanindranath Tagore, the nephew
INTRODUCING THE of Rabindranath Tagore, was a wonderful
painter. He also wrote quite a few tales for
COMPONENTS OF A children and Khirer Putul is one of them, which
was first published in the year 1896. However,
BOOK REVIEW it's been translated into English by Amita Ray,
She is a retired Associate Professor in English,
and Vice- Principal of Uluberia College, West
Bengal. An academic with varied interests, she
writes short stories besides being a translator.
Abanindranath Tagore - 7 August 1872 – 5 December 1951)

COVERS OF THE BOOK :
2) GENRE - The original story may have been inspired by traditional Bengali folk lore and folk culture but as Prof. Sanjukta
Dasgupta points out in her Foreword that “the source narrative of Khirer Putul was an unpublished fairy tale in Rabindranath
Tagore’s wife Mrinalini Devi’s draft collection of fairy tales and fantasies” from where Abanindranath Tagore borrowed the idea of
his story.
3) TOPIC - The eternal conflict between good and ugly - count for a great deal, to be sure. Abanindranath has collected folk tales
that had been sitting deep in the culture for centuries and manages himself heard through his fluid and shining narrative.
4) INTENDED AUDIENCE - The intended audience for this work of literature is mainly children. ‘Khirer Putul’ written in
1896, is certainly one of the best children’s fantasy novel in Bengali language and you will get to see the world through a completely
different set of eyes.
5) SUMMARY OF THE MAIN IDEA -

The story revolves around the King of Deepnagar, who has two queens- uncared and poor elder queen Duorani and pampered and
beautiful younger queen Suorani and the extraordinary intelligent black monkey. The king has given seven palaces, seven hundred
female slaves, precious ornaments from seven kingdoms, seven chariots and seven gardens to his younger queen. Duorani only get a
broken home, a deaf and dumb maid, dirty bed and torn cloths. Like many of the folk tales, Khirer Putul is rooted in precise detail
but at the same time leaves space for the reader to bring their own ideas and thoughts.
Before embarking on a journey to far away countries, the king takes leave from his beautiful Suorani asking what gift she wants and she
replies that she wants “eight bangles of ruby as red as blood”, “string of ten fiery-red anklets made of gold”, “necklace of those pearls,”
“pearls in a distant country as large as the pigeon’s eggs”, and “a sari as blue as the sky, feathery as the wind and light as water”. The king
promises her to bring all she desires.
The elder queen Duorani wishes only for the king’s safe journey and nothing else as any other material things are of no use to her because
the king no longer loves her. On the king’s insistence, she says that he could bring for her “a black faced monkey”. It is the magic the
writer finds in the everyday, the lightness of touch with the intelligence of the monkey that also feel universal, inclusive and comforting
to us as a reader. It has also the edge in terms of seeming positive and enchanting. The story has landed us to a place that is at once full of
something beautiful and consumed by sorrow but again revert back to the glory.
6) CONTRIBUTION TO THE FIELD - The translation of the original Bengali text has obviously made it available to the larger
arena of readers. Sanjukta Dasgupta, the noted poet and critic, in her Foreword, has rightly pointed out, “in her sensitive and skilful
translation, Amita Ray has been able to replicate the swift-flowing lucidity and charm of the original Bangla text by Abanindranath
Tagore.
7) STRENGTHS:
a) Khirer Putul is a visual text where the opulence is brought out through the expression of colours. That is how it was and that is
how it has always been if you go across the seven seas and thirteen rivers of the imagination of your childhood. This once-upon-
a-time story of a king with two queens – the suffering elder Duorani and the pampered younger Suorani – and the change of
fortunes that come about in their lives is an old tale of triumph of good over evil.
b) Walter Benjamin in his essay “The Task of a Translator” says, “While content and language form a certain unity in the original,
like a fruit and its skin, the language of the translation envelops its content like a royal robe with ample folds.” It is with this
finesse and adherence that Amita Roy’s translation comes to the fore. She knows the inadequacies of language in translating
cultures but she also knows that it is through language only mediation can happen and that is what she does successfully. The
lyricism of Bengali may not be there in English but the ethos remains in the translation. What Abanindranath Tagore paints in the
fairy tale and what Amita Ray transfers in this English translation opens a world of fantasy for us as if we are all black faced
monkeys and we have been given a divine vision.
c) The sketches in the book, light and dense, bring all those characters so brilliantly to life. The cover design is arresting
d) A glimpse of her translation is presented below,
‘Leaving her ramshackle cottage, ragged coverlet and draped in sari of gold threads, Duorani entered the new mansion. She
relaxed on a golden cot, had her food served on golden plate, distributed money to the poor and needy. The whole kingdom wished glory
to the queen; the younger queen flared up in anger.’
Or
‘ News arrived at the royal palace that the elder queen had taken poison. The king hurried to the queen’s mansion. The royal
minister followed close on the heels. The royal physician came along chanting the sacred text. Next, starting from the queen’s maids,
royal couriers, servants, everyone followed suit. ‘
8 ) WEAKNESSES -
a) It is an “overtly patriarchal text” but every text in history has a context and has to be read within the prevailing parameters of the time,
age and culture it belongs to. Amale-heir producing queen be privileged over one who could not beget a son,
b) It compels us to forget our contemporary theories of gender binaries, awareness of stereotypes, and logic of rational thinking.
9) OVERALL RECOMMENDATION - Hawakal Publishers deserve plaudits for publishing this wonderful child classic in English
translation. A must read for every child as well as for the grown-up.
FORMULAIC REPRESENTATION OF A BOOK REVIEW
Book Review = Short summary + Evaluation (assessment of the overall

value or contribution of a book or article to the academic field and
specific inventory of good and bad parts or points)
FORMULAIC REPRESENTATION OF A BOOK REVIEW:
RESOURCES
1) “Khirer Putul – the Doll of Condensed Milk” by Abanindranath Tagore (Translation by

Amita Ray) ISBN 13-978-93-87883-06-2.
2) UGC NTA NET - Teaching and Research Aptitude by KVS Madaan
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND PATIENCE.

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Understanding Book Review: Using “Khirer

Putul – the Doll of Condensed Milk” by

What should an academic book review contain?

How long is a book review?

Abanindranath Tagore - 7 August 1872 – 5 December 1951)

5) SUMMARY OF THE MAIN IDEA -

Book Review = Short summary + Evaluation (assessment of the overall

1) “Khirer Putul – the Doll of Condensed Milk” by Abanindranath Tagore (Translation by

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