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The Inhumans and Other Stories: A Selection of Bengali Science Fiction
The first English translation of a cult science fiction favorite by Hemendra Kumar Roy, one of the giants of early Bangla literature, and other sf stories from the colonial period in India.
Kalpavigyan —science fiction written to excite Bengali speakers about science, as well as to persuade them to evolve beyond the limitations of religion, caste, and class—became popular in the early years of the twentieth century. Translated into English for the first time, in this collection you’ll discover The Inhumans (1935), Hemendra Kumar Roy’s satirical novella about a lost race of Bengali supermen in Uganda. Also included are Jagadananda Roy’s “Voyage to Venus” (1895), Nani Gopal Majumdar’s “The Mystery of the Giant” (1931), and Manoranjan Bhattacharya’s “The Martian Purana” (1931).
Kalpavigyan —science fiction written to excite Bengali speakers about science, as well as to persuade them to evolve beyond the limitations of religion, caste, and class—became popular in the early years of the twentieth century. Translated into English for the first time, in this collection you’ll discover The Inhumans (1935), Hemendra Kumar Roy’s satirical novella about a lost race of Bengali supermen in Uganda. Also included are Jagadananda Roy’s “Voyage to Venus” (1895), Nani Gopal Majumdar’s “The Mystery of the Giant” (1931), and Manoranjan Bhattacharya’s “The Martian Purana” (1931).
188 pages, Paperback
First published March 12, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
March 12, 2024
I won this book in a goodreads drawing.
A collection of Sci-fi tales written in the early 20 century in India. It's a little different than American or British pulp in some ways, but in others, quite the same.
The first and best story is a Lost Race story set in Africa, but they're all pretty good.
A collection of Sci-fi tales written in the early 20 century in India. It's a little different than American or British pulp in some ways, but in others, quite the same.
The first and best story is a Lost Race story set in Africa, but they're all pretty good.
March 1, 2026
More interesting to read concerning the history of SFF. Some very fun blending of ancient cosmology with sci fi.
July 29, 2024
What does it mean to be civilized, if not speaking publicly about important issues?”
“So you have no obligation to listen to the other party, so to speak?”
“Indeed. No one here wants to listen to the other party. They want to express their own ideas. This is how civilization works.” CRYING
1. Science fiction 🤝 racism 😍😘🥰😤❤️🔥🥵💅🏽🫡👁️❤️💃🏽✨🤪
2. Inhumans felt like a doctor who episode I LOVED it
3. Voyage to Venus: does???? The narrator????? Like science???? Man made being an ~amateur scientist~ his ENTIRE personality jeez let ur homie like literature! It’s not the end of the world! Also they learn languages SO FAST DuolingoVenus must be INSANE
4. The Mystery of the Giant: glass????????
5. The Martian Purana: 10/5 no notes easily the funniest thing I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading in a very long time
“So you have no obligation to listen to the other party, so to speak?”
“Indeed. No one here wants to listen to the other party. They want to express their own ideas. This is how civilization works.” CRYING
1. Science fiction 🤝 racism 😍😘🥰😤❤️🔥🥵💅🏽🫡👁️❤️💃🏽✨🤪
2. Inhumans felt like a doctor who episode I LOVED it
3. Voyage to Venus: does???? The narrator????? Like science???? Man made being an ~amateur scientist~ his ENTIRE personality jeez let ur homie like literature! It’s not the end of the world! Also they learn languages SO FAST DuolingoVenus must be INSANE
4. The Mystery of the Giant: glass????????
5. The Martian Purana: 10/5 no notes easily the funniest thing I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading in a very long time
May 31, 2024
This was an interesting book from a historical and cultural standpoint. It’s a snapshot in time of a culture different from my own from a time long before my birth.
The stories themselves are dated and silly at times. With big lapses of logic modern stories would contain. Some of this is because general scientific knowledge of the things in the book weren’t known yet.
I also wonder if some aspects were lost in translation or my lack of understanding the nuances of the Bengali culture. It’s a fun read from a historical standpoint.
The stories themselves are dated and silly at times. With big lapses of logic modern stories would contain. Some of this is because general scientific knowledge of the things in the book weren’t known yet.
I also wonder if some aspects were lost in translation or my lack of understanding the nuances of the Bengali culture. It’s a fun read from a historical standpoint.
October 28, 2024
My favorite part of this collection was the informative introduction by the translator, but the stories themselves were the sort of speculative fiction that's more adventure than ideas or characters, and I liked reading them but none of them captivated me.
July 23, 2024
The Radium Age series of science fiction novels and short stories inaugurated and edited by Joshua Glenn and published by MIT focuses on science fiction written between 1900-1935, the era between the end of Victorian science romances (which would include such writers as Jules Verne) and the start of the Golden Age (when Astounding Stories editor John Campbell successfully formalized the genre’s elements). During this intervening 35-year span, science fiction was still an amorphous thing, serving to think through social conventions by setting them in the neutral territory of the future, or by exploring a different planet or a hidden part of our planet, and other permutations of thought experiments for pleasure. By gussying up the actors in alien form, the distancing or, quite literally, alienating effect helped “make it new” (which became Modernism’s rallying call), whatever it was. “Speculative fiction” it was, more an impetus to creation than a form to be filled, as it later became.
As an invitation to thought experiments, the temptation to speculate attracted such mainstream authors as Edith Wharton and G. K. Chesterson. In addition to contributions from women writers, the Radium Age also attracted writers from around the world—two sets of writers largely absent from the world John Campbell made. The Inhumans—marking the first translation and publication into English the stories of several Bengali science fiction writers—sets out to correct that skewed, false impression of who contributed to exploring the fecund territory of speculation.
The title story, by Hemendrakumar Roy, is a “lost world” tale set in Africa and told by an Indian hunter who, having experienced the thrill of killing India’s large game, sets out for Lake Bunyonyi in Uganda. “The Inhumans” is a short novel, giving Roy the time needed to slowly wend his narrative from describing the dangers of hunting real animals to the fantastic arena of creatures more dangerous and bizarre, starting with an encounter with a 16-year-old girl raised by gorillas. Although the girl’s presence turns out to have a “rational” explanation, the deeper into the jungle land the hunter goes, the more ambiguous becomes the distinction between “rational” and “superstitious” arguments, the more concrete the previously unbelievable becomes.
During pursuit of a lion he had wounded, the narrator finds the diary of a dead man who had preceded him some time ago in the lion’s cave. As coincidence would have it, the dead man was Bangla, too, making his diary easy to read. The narrator has had a great scare from the Juju spirits that haunt the mountain he has been exploring, and he is satisfied with having escaped with his life. The diary he finds is from an explorer who saw more than the narrator, but ultimately paid his life for the journey. The “lost world” narrative turns to a “found manuscript by hands unknown” narrative. The diary describes the world of the so-called Jujus—an advanced civilization of beings of Bangla descent who have modified their bodies as part of their evolutionary advancement. They are now boneless creatures that live in . . . barrels.
From the distance of 90 years since this story was published, it’s hard to tell how much of the diary’s narrative we are intended to be frightened or amused by. Descriptions of unusual objects that context would suggest should be understood as horrifying come instead across as comically exaggerated—eyes that bug out, limbs and torsos that sprout weird buboes, and so forth. The action is plentiful—and plenty implausible—without reading as a proto-Bollywood production (as the Mahabharata does), although it does feature several songs.
The eponymous voyage Jagadananda Ray’s “Voyage to Venus” (1895) occurs via a dream in which only one side the planet ever faces the sun. Upon arriving on the dark side of Venus, he is immediately welcomed by a group of Yeti-like creatures, primitive yet kind. The creatures coax the narrator to a cave, from which a close friend of the narrator’s emerges(!). Of course, the planet’s atmosphere has breathable levels of oxygen and the soil grows digestible types of plant life. After several months of exploring the dark side of the planet and learning the Yeti language, the pair decide to make the 1,200-mile hike to the sunlit side. One of the Yetis they have named Ghatotkach, after a Hindu god, insists on going with them. They agree to the wisdom of being accompanied by an escort familiar with the planet, accept his offer—and immediately treat him as a servant and load him with their travel gear rather than carry it themselves.
On the sunlit side they discover another race of beings—not dark, hirsute, and clawed like Ghatotkach and his kin—but attractively human-like and technologically superior to both Ghatotkach’s race and the Earthlings. However, these Venetians recognize the Earthling’s superior breeding and intelligence, and treat them as equals. Eventually boredom sets in, and the narrator’s dream must end.
Rounding out the collection are “The Mystery of the Giant” (1931) by Nonigopal Majumdar (which provides a pseudo-scientific explanations for Bengali “spirits”) and “The Martian Purana” (1931) by Manoranjan Bhattacharya (in which Space-Age versions of major figures from the Mahabharata and Ramayana confront autonomous mechanization on Mars).
A lot of fun, this lot, with breezy narratives told enthusiastically.
For more of my reviews, please see https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/...
As an invitation to thought experiments, the temptation to speculate attracted such mainstream authors as Edith Wharton and G. K. Chesterson. In addition to contributions from women writers, the Radium Age also attracted writers from around the world—two sets of writers largely absent from the world John Campbell made. The Inhumans—marking the first translation and publication into English the stories of several Bengali science fiction writers—sets out to correct that skewed, false impression of who contributed to exploring the fecund territory of speculation.
The title story, by Hemendrakumar Roy, is a “lost world” tale set in Africa and told by an Indian hunter who, having experienced the thrill of killing India’s large game, sets out for Lake Bunyonyi in Uganda. “The Inhumans” is a short novel, giving Roy the time needed to slowly wend his narrative from describing the dangers of hunting real animals to the fantastic arena of creatures more dangerous and bizarre, starting with an encounter with a 16-year-old girl raised by gorillas. Although the girl’s presence turns out to have a “rational” explanation, the deeper into the jungle land the hunter goes, the more ambiguous becomes the distinction between “rational” and “superstitious” arguments, the more concrete the previously unbelievable becomes.
During pursuit of a lion he had wounded, the narrator finds the diary of a dead man who had preceded him some time ago in the lion’s cave. As coincidence would have it, the dead man was Bangla, too, making his diary easy to read. The narrator has had a great scare from the Juju spirits that haunt the mountain he has been exploring, and he is satisfied with having escaped with his life. The diary he finds is from an explorer who saw more than the narrator, but ultimately paid his life for the journey. The “lost world” narrative turns to a “found manuscript by hands unknown” narrative. The diary describes the world of the so-called Jujus—an advanced civilization of beings of Bangla descent who have modified their bodies as part of their evolutionary advancement. They are now boneless creatures that live in . . . barrels.
From the distance of 90 years since this story was published, it’s hard to tell how much of the diary’s narrative we are intended to be frightened or amused by. Descriptions of unusual objects that context would suggest should be understood as horrifying come instead across as comically exaggerated—eyes that bug out, limbs and torsos that sprout weird buboes, and so forth. The action is plentiful—and plenty implausible—without reading as a proto-Bollywood production (as the Mahabharata does), although it does feature several songs.
The eponymous voyage Jagadananda Ray’s “Voyage to Venus” (1895) occurs via a dream in which only one side the planet ever faces the sun. Upon arriving on the dark side of Venus, he is immediately welcomed by a group of Yeti-like creatures, primitive yet kind. The creatures coax the narrator to a cave, from which a close friend of the narrator’s emerges(!). Of course, the planet’s atmosphere has breathable levels of oxygen and the soil grows digestible types of plant life. After several months of exploring the dark side of the planet and learning the Yeti language, the pair decide to make the 1,200-mile hike to the sunlit side. One of the Yetis they have named Ghatotkach, after a Hindu god, insists on going with them. They agree to the wisdom of being accompanied by an escort familiar with the planet, accept his offer—and immediately treat him as a servant and load him with their travel gear rather than carry it themselves.
On the sunlit side they discover another race of beings—not dark, hirsute, and clawed like Ghatotkach and his kin—but attractively human-like and technologically superior to both Ghatotkach’s race and the Earthlings. However, these Venetians recognize the Earthling’s superior breeding and intelligence, and treat them as equals. Eventually boredom sets in, and the narrator’s dream must end.
Rounding out the collection are “The Mystery of the Giant” (1931) by Nonigopal Majumdar (which provides a pseudo-scientific explanations for Bengali “spirits”) and “The Martian Purana” (1931) by Manoranjan Bhattacharya (in which Space-Age versions of major figures from the Mahabharata and Ramayana confront autonomous mechanization on Mars).
A lot of fun, this lot, with breezy narratives told enthusiastically.
For more of my reviews, please see https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/...
Read
August 10, 2024(39/143) Visiting the local library is always a fun adventure when you look at what they curate for their patrons. There is so much thoughtful and insight that goes into that process where you consider your audience, genres, accessibility and so much more. Librarians are awesome! I would have never discovered this book otherwise. Since getting back from traveling, I've become painfully more aware of the axis of western culture the envelopes my life. Being in India and Southeast Asia it is glaringly obvious how much Christian ideals shape our world because they are so devoid of it. I can tell you more about biblical figures (despite never having gone to Church) than anything related to Vishnu, Shiva or Hanuman. It's bothered me enough that I'm making more of an effort to read stories outside of that sphere of influence. Lo and behold, this book appeared before me like a calling! A series of Bengali short sci fiction stories from over a 100 years ago. It's sad that it has never occurred to me other parts of the world have been writing in this genre for centuries! I love science fiction because even though it is set often in far away times and planets, it is always a contemporary mirror for society when it was written. The Inhumans story was jarring to read! It has wonderful commentary on eugenics, race science, colonialism and politics. One particular scene satirized the latter in a way that would still work for our world today,
'But can you even understand each other in this cacophony of voices?'
'There is absolutely no need to understand'
'So how can anyone decide how to vote on the issues?'
He looked at me pityingly and said: "You are so naive. Everyone votes strictly along party lines, so there is no need to understand any other viewpoints.'
Incredible! I loved how much it questioned the role of science in "progress" and how that pursuit of progress ultimately makes us lose touch with what makes us human. The purposeful obfuscation of Amal/Amala illustrate this point is obviously jaded but also points out how much authors have played on the idea of gender for centuries!!! It's not a perfect story, it is dated but it's exciting to read something that is not rooted in imperial culture of the West and challenges those notions, even while it agrees with some of them (the depiction of African and Africans). So many other little nuggets (Kamala! Ayurvedic!) that I wouldn't have understood or related to until this year. That being said, there is still so much learning that needs to happen on my end. The Martian Purana was completely lost on me (just like much of the history explained to me in Cambodia on tours) because I have no knowledge of Hindu tales. It's great to see these works get translated but I also can't help but wonder how much is lost in translation? How much is lost to the march of time? Cool read that got me thinking a lot!
'But can you even understand each other in this cacophony of voices?'
'There is absolutely no need to understand'
'So how can anyone decide how to vote on the issues?'
He looked at me pityingly and said: "You are so naive. Everyone votes strictly along party lines, so there is no need to understand any other viewpoints.'
Incredible! I loved how much it questioned the role of science in "progress" and how that pursuit of progress ultimately makes us lose touch with what makes us human. The purposeful obfuscation of Amal/Amala illustrate this point is obviously jaded but also points out how much authors have played on the idea of gender for centuries!!! It's not a perfect story, it is dated but it's exciting to read something that is not rooted in imperial culture of the West and challenges those notions, even while it agrees with some of them (the depiction of African and Africans). So many other little nuggets (Kamala! Ayurvedic!) that I wouldn't have understood or related to until this year. That being said, there is still so much learning that needs to happen on my end. The Martian Purana was completely lost on me (just like much of the history explained to me in Cambodia on tours) because I have no knowledge of Hindu tales. It's great to see these works get translated but I also can't help but wonder how much is lost in translation? How much is lost to the march of time? Cool read that got me thinking a lot!
Read
August 12, 2024I'm counting this as read even though I only read about half of it - mostly this is because I wasn't really enjoying the title story, the long novella. These are all SF stories translated out of Bengali, and The Inhumans, the long one, is an SF play on King Solomon's Mines and its ilk - mysterious lost kingdom in Africa etc - with all the terrible racist tropes about Africa that we're familiar with. So kind of uncomfortable, but I have to say, it is fascinating and validating to hear SF written from an Indian mind in an Indian language, especially when you are an SFF writer in English who is occasionally only in the genre under sufferance. It's not my language, really: I am Bengali-Assamese on one side but my sketchy Bengali is not up to much. But that's not the point, and the remaining three stories give me what I'm looking for. One is an HG Wells voyage-to-Venus story, quite perfectly dull, until the narrator observes that the skies of Venus are a little alarming to a Hindu-born child, and you remember all at once that this *isn't* Wells; the next story could be SF-ish Conan Doyle, except it's set in Ranchi in an Indian family home where the young daughter wants to play weddings so there's always a baraat going on (!); and finally, the story called "The Martian Purana" is, wonderfully, a wildly irreverent Mahabharata modern AU where they go to Mars in the middle for some reason. I didn't finish the novella, but I am very glad I read this.
Read
March 13, 2024The Inhumans and Other Stories: A Selection of Bengali Science Fiction edited and translated by Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay brings to print a previously untranslated, iconic Bengali sci fi novella from 1935: The Inhumans by Hemendrakumar Roy, a satire that has never gone out of print in its original language but has never been translated despite its well-earned place in the Radium Age of science fiction. Chattopadhyay adds three other early short stories as a bonus. Together, we get a collection of excellent classic sci fi with a non-Western perspective.
The Inhumans is a strange novella, featuring some classics of the early sci fi genre—story within a story, secrets in the predatory jungles of Africa, science's potential to over-reach—but with a uniquely anti-colonial undertone. The story is at turns absurd, funny, and scary as our narrator comes face-to-face with a secret civilization of "advanced" human beings hidden in the African wilderness. As for the short stories, they're a wonderful mix of myth and science, magic and sci fi, that I really enjoyed. Fans of classic, early sci fi will enjoy this, but so will most sci fi readers, and I'm glad that more classics that aren't originally in English are finally becoming more widespread and accessible.
Content warnings for fatphobia, violence/body horror.
The Inhumans is a strange novella, featuring some classics of the early sci fi genre—story within a story, secrets in the predatory jungles of Africa, science's potential to over-reach—but with a uniquely anti-colonial undertone. The story is at turns absurd, funny, and scary as our narrator comes face-to-face with a secret civilization of "advanced" human beings hidden in the African wilderness. As for the short stories, they're a wonderful mix of myth and science, magic and sci fi, that I really enjoyed. Fans of classic, early sci fi will enjoy this, but so will most sci fi readers, and I'm glad that more classics that aren't originally in English are finally becoming more widespread and accessible.
Content warnings for fatphobia, violence/body horror.
June 14, 2024
How interesting! I've definitely enjoyed all the MIT Radium Age series books that I've read so far.
The "and other stories" and "a selection" in the title makes it seem like there will be a wider variety; there's just one novella and three short stories.
The primary story was curious in its structure-- it's a frame story in which the explorer telling his story finds the journal of another person, and that journal is included. The outer frame also quotes heavily from other contemporary writers, so maybe it is almost like a collection of short stories by itself. While the language and pacing were both approachable, certain conventions from older styles of writing-- characters seesawing among very strong emotions, non sequiturs as the backbone of dialogue, and characters lecturing other characters almost entirely-- may feel awkward for modern readers not interested in older works.
A wonderful introduction gives a ton of info about the works, focusing on "The Inhumans." I didn't find the themes overpowering-- it can certainly be read as a fun old story.
I skimmed the last story, for which the reader would be best served by already knowing the mythological and religious references. It's not a bad reading experience, just one I know I'm not the intended audience for and didn't get the most out of.
The "and other stories" and "a selection" in the title makes it seem like there will be a wider variety; there's just one novella and three short stories.
The primary story was curious in its structure-- it's a frame story in which the explorer telling his story finds the journal of another person, and that journal is included. The outer frame also quotes heavily from other contemporary writers, so maybe it is almost like a collection of short stories by itself. While the language and pacing were both approachable, certain conventions from older styles of writing-- characters seesawing among very strong emotions, non sequiturs as the backbone of dialogue, and characters lecturing other characters almost entirely-- may feel awkward for modern readers not interested in older works.
A wonderful introduction gives a ton of info about the works, focusing on "The Inhumans." I didn't find the themes overpowering-- it can certainly be read as a fun old story.
I skimmed the last story, for which the reader would be best served by already knowing the mythological and religious references. It's not a bad reading experience, just one I know I'm not the intended audience for and didn't get the most out of.
March 13, 2024
The fourteenth title in MIT’s Radium Age series of early 20th Century science fiction serves up a curious mélange of tropes and genres in Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay’s translation of Hemendrakumar Roy’s adventure The Inhumans, together with English language debuts of three other early Bangla science fantasies. Roy’s eclectic novella veers from exotic tales of savage beasts and superstitious natives in the deepest jungles of Africa – some lifted verbatim from a ripsnorting British safari yarn of the day – to a topsyturvy satiric fable highlighting the foibles of a lost race of boneless nobinary shapeshifters who roll busily about in barrels. A more straightforward 1895 tale by Jagadananda Ray depicts the uneasy relationship between disparate dwellers of the dark and light sides of Venus, while other stories mix myth and science in strange and striking ways. Adopting yet subtly subverting the prevalent imperialist biases of their day, these popular tales offer a diverting glimpse of the cultural ferment and ambivalence of late colonial Bengal.
August 2, 2024
The stories, naturally, are a bit dated (being nearly 100 years old this isn’t surprising). All also feel a bit short and end somewhat abruptly to my modern ears.
That’s said it is worth reading if for nothing else to see how non-English Science Fiction existed in 100 or more years ago. In this case in Bangla these stories from Bengali writers (at the time in India when it was still part of the British Empire) show both the influence of English writers and story forms on writers of India as well as unique influences and approaches. The whole Radium Age series from MIT is a great series showing works from an era of Scieince Fiction that many people now forget about and no less about.
There are three short stories and one novella in this book. Recommended for the Alice of history though the stories like many older works also show their age.
That’s said it is worth reading if for nothing else to see how non-English Science Fiction existed in 100 or more years ago. In this case in Bangla these stories from Bengali writers (at the time in India when it was still part of the British Empire) show both the influence of English writers and story forms on writers of India as well as unique influences and approaches. The whole Radium Age series from MIT is a great series showing works from an era of Scieince Fiction that many people now forget about and no less about.
There are three short stories and one novella in this book. Recommended for the Alice of history though the stories like many older works also show their age.
June 23, 2024
This was read specifically to fulfill a reading challenge prompt. I don't normally read short stories. The first short story was over half of the book and it took awhile for it to get interesting (for me), but it didn't lead anywhere I ever expected it to go, which was fun! I'm also curious how much better it would be if I was able to read it in the original language and not a translation, I only assume it would be better.
June 24, 2024
Translated Bengali sci-fi from the Radium age, part of an effort by MIT Press to "reissue notable proto–science fiction stories from the underappreciated era between 1900 and 1935." So I mean it's kinda rad just off the bat by nature of what it is.
And the glimpses that we get of how people in this time and place were thinking about the future were neat, particularly in the title story. I think the overall volume is let down by the three forgettable stories that were included after "The Inhumans."
And the glimpses that we get of how people in this time and place were thinking about the future were neat, particularly in the title story. I think the overall volume is let down by the three forgettable stories that were included after "The Inhumans."
April 21, 2024
Props to the editor and translator for bringing this book into being—a unique contribution to the English-speaking sci-fi world. After reading the collection I definitely feel more interested in exploring early Bengali sci-fi.
December 10, 2024
Interesting but not engaging. The main story in this collection about a race of Bengali supermen living in the Ruwenzori mountains is intriguing and dealt with in a subversive and engaging way, but within the constraints of a short story never has chance to develop to its full potential.
January 12, 2026
Taken at face value, none of these stories is that interesting (although I did laugh at the first one several times), but as part of historical literature, they're fascinating. Don't skip the book's introduction!!
March 11, 2024
Culturally and historically significant but dated stories.
April 10, 2024
I liked the first story, but I was cold on the others.
June 12, 2024
First story was great. Rest of the stories not so much
August 26, 2024
some truly fabulous tales
December 17, 2024
The title novella here is a very funny and impressively gross satire on colonial SF tropes; the others are nice to have but felt a little like ballast.
August 24, 2024
Bengali science fiction stories that stretch the boundaries of imagination.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews