Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t23: S C Chatterjee
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t23
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S C Chatterjee
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Sarat Chandra Chatterjee (September 15, 1876 - January 16, 1938) was a Bengali novelist of India. He was born in a poor Brahmin family in Devanandpur, Hooghly (present-day West Bengal), India. In 1886, he moved to Bhagalpur, Bihar with his parents and joined Tej Narayan Jubilee College in 1894. Two years later he had to stop his education. In 1900, he fought with his father over a job, ran away from home and began his life as a Bhikshu. In 1903, he went to Burma to make a living and took up paperwork in the government agency of Rangoon. In 1916, he returned to Calcutta and started his career as a professional writer. From 1921-1936, he worked as the Chairman of Congress Party in the District of Howrah and became a radical nationalist. In 1936, he was awarded the Honorary Doctorate Degree by University of Dhaka, and in 1938, he died due to an illness in Calcutta.
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‘*Path Ke Davedar (Pather Dabi)*’, *Chinese edition* He wrote more than 30 novelettes & full-length novels, and many short stories in his lifetime. In 1904, he published his first short story ‘*Mandir*’. In 1907, his first full-length novel ‘*Baradidi*’ was published in a magazine and received good reviews. His short stories include *Bindur Chhele* (1914), *Meji Didi* (1915), *Kashinath* (1917), *Ramer Shumoti* (1914), *Swami* (1918), *Grihodaho* (1919), *Chhabi* (1920), *Harilakshmi* (1926) etc. His novelettes and full-length novels mainly include *Srikant* (volume I (1917), volume II (1918), volume III (1927), volume IV (1933), *Palli Shomaj* (1916), *Arakhsanya* (1916), *Choritrohin* (1917), *Pather Dabi* (1926) etc. Among his works, the four-volume autographical full-length novel *Srikant* fully shows the social life of Bangladesh in late 19ᵗʰ century and early 20ᵗʰ century, and is honoured as the masterwork of realistic literature in India. A large number of his works are translated into Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, English etc, and several novels have been adapted into film scripts.
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Photo from the Indian movie 'Devdas'
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Since 1950s, three of his works in total have been translated into Chinese, which include *Arakhsanya* (1956) and *Srikant* (volume I, 1981) translated by Shi Zhen and *Pather Dabi* (1985) translated by Liu Guonan and Liu Anwu. In 2004, the homonymous Indian film adapted from his novel *Devdas* (《宝莱坞生死恋》in Chinese) was introduced by CCTV and received great response in China.
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(*Li Yalan*)