Bangla Sonnets in Translation: A Digital Project

Abstract

Many poets have experimented with the sonnet forms in Bangla since Michael Madhusudan Dutt. Their experiments have played very significant roles in the literary and cultural history of Bangladesh. Academic discussion on Bangla sonnets, however, is far from adequate and there has not been enough attempts to make these sonnets available to the international readers through translation and wider circulation. The digital archival project attempts to identify and curate some of the key moments of the history of Bangla sonnets. In so doing, the project begins with the definition of Bangla sonnet, and goes on to trace the evolution of the genre in Bengal with an underlying attempt to investigate the significance of the trope in Bangla literature. The selection of the poets, the translation of the works, and the curation of the poems are done to create a discursive platform both for the generation of curiosity in readers and for the engagement of future readers with Bangla sonnets.