Prof. Deb's present volume is primarily a collection of critical essays on literature. These essays are short but stimulating and worth the attention of people in all social spheres and academic disciplines. They provide evidence of Prof. Deb's genuine interest in various forms of cultural/social dynamic and show his method of judgement which is at once bold and unequivocal. There are of course some lacunae or overlappings in the book, which have proved unavoidable, but each of the essays on Shakespeare and Tagore has turned out to be a self-contained, cohesive unit.
Pralay Kumar Deb had his Master's and PhD degrees from the University of Calcutta. He was formerly Professor of English and Dean, Faculty of Arts and Commerce, University of Kalyani. He also served at Presidency College, Bethune College and Maulana Azad College as a Part-time teacher in English. He is the author of Jonson and Congreve: A Study of their Comedies and Gateway to Culture: Essays on Literature, Society and the Arts. His essays in criticism, published in various journals (both English and Bengali), have won the acclaim of eminent scholars in India and abroad. His area of specialization covers Renaissance and Restoration drama. He is also interested in classical drama and literary criticism.
My present volume is primarily a collection of essays on literature. These essays are short but stimulating and worth the attention of people in all social spheres and academic disciplines. They provide evidence of my genuine interest in various forms of cultural / social dynamic and a method of judgement which is at once bold and unequivocal. There are, of course, some unavoidable overlappings or lacunas in the essays, but these essays may be broadly divided into three categories: essays on critical issues; essays on individual authors; and essays in comparative literature, which reveal a charm of their own, along with their intellectual persuasiveness and constructive judgement. There are six essays on or about Shakespeare, sıx others on or about Tagore, while the remaining others deal with a miscellany of literary topics.
This is by far the most suitable occasion to communicate my best wishes to my affectionate well-wishers. I take this opportunity to acknowledge my debt to the copyright owners and publishers of all the editions, journals and brochures in which all these essays and prose-texts had originally appeared. In writing the essays later incorporated in this volume, I received assistance and encouragement from distinguished academics. It is not always possible to mention all of them, but I cannot forget them either they have all been so genuinely solicitous.
Dr. Pralay Kumar Deb was a brilliant student of English Literature and Language at Presidency College and Calcutta University. He was later conferred the Ph.D. degree for his extremely illuminating and strikingly original research work on Restoration Comedy shedding special light on Jonson and Congreve. However, he was a keen reader of literature and his pursuits led him to different areas and periods of English drama and poetry His scholarship yielded several probing and insightful articles on various aspects of literary creation. Dr. Deb had left belund him two major publications containing articles of great merit. Even then, it is a matter of great pleasure that many of his writings published in important journals exploring new horizons of literary appreciation are now being collected in a single volume entitled 'Facets of Literary Perception'. This will enable students, researchers and admirers of Dr. Pralay Kumar Deb to gain new insight into lus vast scholarship and his very original way of looking at literary creativity.
Apart from being a distinguished scholar, Dr. Pralay Kumar Deb was also an extremely successful teacher of English Literature. He taught in the departments of English in the University of North Bengal and then in the University of Kalyani. I had the privilege of being his classmate at the Honours and Post-graduate levels and later was honoured to be his colleague in the English Department in the University of Kalyanı. I knew hum as a student, a scholar and a teacher and found him excel in all capacities. Deeply committed to his bonds and beliefs, he was a true and great friend.
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