Harbart - Softcover

Nabarun Bhattacharya; Sunandini Banerjee; Siddharta Deb

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0811224732 ISBN 13: 9780811224734

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019

Synopsis

This beloved cult novel about a young man who makes a business of relaying messages from the dead is now in a sparkling English translation.

Poor, poor, hard-luck Harbart Sarkar: born into a fancy Calcutta family but cursed from birth (his philandering movie director father is killed in a car crash and his mother dies soon after, when he s still just a baby), he is taken as an orphan into his uncle's house, only to fall further and further down the family totem pole. Despite good looks ("Hollywood-ish, Leslie Howard-ish") and native talents, he is scorned by all but his kind aunt. Poor Harbart: so lovable but so little loved. Cheated of his inheritance, living on the roof in cast-off clothing, he pines for love, but all is woe: his own nephews beat him up.

At twenty, however, he suddenly seems to possess the gift of speaking with the dead. Harbart is bathed in glory. From less than zero to starry heights what an apotheosis. The wheel of fortune turns again, all too soon...

Legendary, scathingly satiric, wildly energetic, deeply tender, Herbert is an Indian masterwork.

About this title

About the Author

NABARUN BHATTACHARYA (1948-2014) was an Indian Bengali writer who was committed to a revolutionary and radical aesthetics. He was the only child of the acclaimed actor and playwright Bijon Bhattacharya and the writer and activist Mahashweta Devi. The author of a dozen major novels, the most famous of which is Herbert, he was also a poet.

Edition details

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0811224732
• ISBN 13: 9780811224734
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 112