Wildfire: And Other Stories

by Banaphool, Somnath Zutshi (Translation)

Banaphool—which means wildflower—was the pen name of beloved Bengali writer Balaichand Mukhopadhyay (1899–1979). Wildfire brings together forty-five short pieces by Banaphool that are brilliantly representative of his uncompromising, multifaceted talent. Stark and short, often much too short, some even cryptic, these stories often leave much of the narrative to our imagination. Here we find an irresistible grab bag: utterly whimsical tales, several ghost stories, a few morality fables, some bitterly critical political satires, and a number of stories that examine the plight of those neglected in or rejected by society.

The  wildflower, Rabindranath Tagore had told the author, has no place in the porcelain vase, nor in the temple—it blossoms by the roadside, unnoticed, except by the creative vision. Identifying with it, Banaphool brings to our notice the worth of the marginal as well as the beauty of the mundane. The perfect introduction to a master writer, Wildfire will enchant and impress English-language readers new to Banaphool’s work.

248 pages, Paperback

Published June 15, 2018

Reviews

[Kamila Kunda · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Wildfire” was my first encounter with the writing of Banaphool, well-known Bengali author, whose real name was Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay and who, as I just found out, died only two days after I was born. Seagull Books offered this collection of short stories as one of the free downloads and I read it with pleasure.

Many of Banaphool’s stories are very short, merely two or three pages long. Some of the longer ones were adapted for film, including the longest in this collection and probably the best one, “Bhuvan Shome”. Many are morality tales, making the reader reflect upon human nature. Many contrast prejudice, greed, envy or small-mindedness with kindness, compassion, altruism and trust. A lot of characters are teachers or doctors (the author himself was a qualified and practising physician) and touch upon the ethics of these jobs. All these stories were written when watching TV was not common and I have a feeling were intended to be told in the evenings in social gatherings. Bengalis are known to be great storytellers and the tradition of storytelling is practised by the Patuas or Chitrakars who pass on stories from one generation to the other in a form of oral performances using picture scrolls. Banaphool’s stories seem to me to be a nod to this tradition - many are short enough to be told in 10 minutes by artists, with a sense of humour able to engage a small crowd.

I must honestly admit that while I enjoyed reading the stories I also felt they have aged. The themes may still be universal, the reality around them however has changed over the years and the tales do not carry the same gravitas as when they were written. They also sound a bit too simplistic and too moralising in English and I suspect much of the beauty of Bengali language and rhythm was inevitably lost in translation. Still, “Wildfire” is worth reading is you feel nostalgia for bygone times and wish to become familiar with one of the most revered Bengali authors.

[Joseph Schreiber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection gathers a wide selection of the short—typically ultra short—stories of this prolific Bangali writer (who was in his day job a physician) along with one longer, novella length piece. A gifted story teller, his tales range from morality tales, ghost stories and character studies and contain themes that are sometimes surprisingly timely. Or perhaps, the more things change...
A longer review can be found here: https://roughghosts.com/2020/06/14/no...

[aDystoPianClassic · Rating 4 out of 5]

The collection of short stories in this book are perfect for someone who has never had a chance to go through the works of renowned Bengali author - Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay who used the Nome De Plume "Banaphool", which means Wildflower.

Noble laureate Rabindranath Tagore had an impression that Banaphool's style of writing resembled to that of O'Henry, albeit in Bengali.

This is my first time reading Banaphool, and all credit goes to Seagull Publisher's decision to let readers download one PDF version of their books everyday during the worldwide COVID 19 lockdown. I'm 4 stories in) and I'm already won over. After this, I will be actively looking for more of his work. A lot of the stories are merely 1 page long. Not many of the stories exceed three pages. The author respects the imagination of his readers and uses words economically as he weaves these stories.

[Mohammad Sabbir Shaikh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Balaichand Mukhopadhya wrote under the pen name of Banaphool. He was a prolific bengali writer who published 61 novels and 600 short stories. He wrote all kinds of stories from funny to scary and this book is a perfect example of that. If you love reading short stories, you must certainly try it. His stories were compared to Chekhov and O. Henry by none other than Tagore.

Thank you for translating, Somnath Zutshi.

[Soumya · Rating 3 out of 5]

A refreshing introduction to Bengali literature.