The Young Zemindar (Shoshee Chunder Dutt)

Book Details

• Publisher: Sahitya Akademi

• Language: English

• Pages: 673

• Edition: 2017

• ISBN: 9788126046188

• Cover: Hardcover

• Dimensions: 21.5 cm x 14 cm (8.50 x 5.50 inch)

• Weight: 900 gm

Book Description
Shoshee Chunder Dutt (1824–1885) was one of the earliest Indian writers in English who produced poetry, fiction, essays, sketches, historical writings, and socio-anthropological studies. He is often regarded as a pioneering figure in Indian English literature for his efforts to Indianise the English language and adapt Western literary forms to express Indian experiences, emotions, and ideas. His works reflect a deep engagement with Indian society, culture, and the political realities of colonial rule.

This volume brings together four available works of fiction by Shoshee Chunder Dutt: The Republic of Orissa: A Page from the Annals of the Twentieth Century (1845), Reminiscences of a Kerani's Life (1872–73), Shunkur: A Tale of the Indian Mutiny 1857 (1874), and The Young Zemindar (1880). These writings reconstruct Indian history and cultural identity while offering early nationalist perspectives. The Republic of Orissa imagines the freedom of the country, The Young Zemindar portrays organized resistance against colonial power, Reminiscences of a Kerani’s Life reads like a thinly veiled autobiography of a colonial subject, and Shunkur provides one of the earliest fictional accounts of the uprising of 1857 by an Indian writer.

Dutt sometimes wrote under pseudonyms such as J. A. G. Barton and Horatio Bickerstaffe Rowney, partly due to colonial pressures. Interestingly, some of these works were recommended as study material in English schools. His writings represent an early literary attempt to “write back” to colonial authority and articulate Indian perspectives through English prose fiction.

The editor of this volume, Subhendu Mund, is a noted poet, critic, translator, and lexicographer who has published extensively in Odia, English, and Kannada. The collection offers valuable insight into the formative phase of Indian English fiction and is an important resource for readers interested in literary history, colonial discourse, and early nationalist writing.