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To Live or not to live
- GenresNonfiction
176 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1970
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164 people want to read
About the author
Nirad C. Chaudhuri
31 books83 followersNirad C. Chaudhuri (Bangla: নীরদ চন্দ্র চৌধুরী Nirod Chôndro Choudhuri) was a Bengali−English writer and cultural commentator. He was born in 1897 in Kishoreganj, which today is part of Bangladesh but at that time was part of Bengal, a region of British India.
He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award, in 1975 for his biography on Max Müller called Scholar Extraordinary, by the Sahitya Akademi, India's national academy of letters. In 1992, he was honoured by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom with the title of Commander of Order of the British Empire (CBE). His 1965 work The Continent of Circe earned him the Duff Cooper Memorial Award, becoming the first and only Indian to be selected for the prize.
In 1951 he published his most famous book, Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, a penetrating and challenging analysis of Indian history, culture and British rule. The controversial dedication to the memory of the British Empire caused a furore at the time but the book is now considered a classic work of Indian literature. He was awarded the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize for The Continent of Circe (1965), was made CBE in 1992 and received the Hon.D.Litt from the University of Oxford; the University of Viswa Bharati also awarded him Deshikottama, its highest honorary degree.
A passionate admirer of western culture, he first visited England in 1955, a visit which inspired his book Passage to England. He decided to make his home in Oxford in 1970 when he was over seventy. He was a familiar and arresting sight out and about in Oxford, a diminutive figure, always impeccably dressed in a three-piece suit, although he wore Indian attire at home. He wrote his last book Three Horsemen of the New Apocalypse only a year before his death at the age of nearly 102.
He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award, in 1975 for his biography on Max Müller called Scholar Extraordinary, by the Sahitya Akademi, India's national academy of letters. In 1992, he was honoured by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom with the title of Commander of Order of the British Empire (CBE). His 1965 work The Continent of Circe earned him the Duff Cooper Memorial Award, becoming the first and only Indian to be selected for the prize.
In 1951 he published his most famous book, Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, a penetrating and challenging analysis of Indian history, culture and British rule. The controversial dedication to the memory of the British Empire caused a furore at the time but the book is now considered a classic work of Indian literature. He was awarded the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize for The Continent of Circe (1965), was made CBE in 1992 and received the Hon.D.Litt from the University of Oxford; the University of Viswa Bharati also awarded him Deshikottama, its highest honorary degree.
A passionate admirer of western culture, he first visited England in 1955, a visit which inspired his book Passage to England. He decided to make his home in Oxford in 1970 when he was over seventy. He was a familiar and arresting sight out and about in Oxford, a diminutive figure, always impeccably dressed in a three-piece suit, although he wore Indian attire at home. He wrote his last book Three Horsemen of the New Apocalypse only a year before his death at the age of nearly 102.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 27, 2016
Few days back I found an interesting aphorism by Thales where he says dispensing advice is the easiest task on earth. I am not entirely in agreement. I think the easiest thing in the world should be attributed to "Criticizing". In case of "advising", at least the advisor has to twist his mental muscles to analyse the issue in hand and come up with a plausible even if impractical solution. But in case of "criticizing" you don't even need to exercise your brain. You just need to have a negative attitude towards everything. Screw up your nose, distort your eyebrows, and talk gibberish in flowery language - you are a satirist.
Unlike (probably) yester-years, now finding a satirist who makes fun of anything and everything under the sun, is not a difficult task. Scan through any popular blog that doesn't share only the blogger's daily routine or his great admiration of own photography skills, you will find a satirist in him/her. In today's world, fun on the expense of something is satire, isn't it?
Hence, Nirad C Chaudhuri's this book might be regarded highly when it was written, but having seen and read so many satirists everyday, I won't consider this book a classic, despite recognizing Mr Chaudhuri as one of the most sophisticated eloquent Indian authors I have come across till date.
"Do we live at all? This would seem to be an absurd question, for none of us actually commit suicide, though, to be honest, I'd confess that I've come to feel that a large majority of the persons I know should do so because I cannot see any point in their remaining alive." With this brutal introduction when Nirad C Chaudhuri started to put forth his take on life, I got myself up highly enthused in anticipation of a deep philosophical treatise. But what I got instead was a voluble discourse on how despicable, illogical and backward our Indian social and family lives are. I think he is one of the few Bengali's who have criticized the Bengali lifestyle the most. Probably fully realizing Plato's famous dictum: "The uncriticized life is not worth living"
No doubt Choudhuri was a gifted writer, but this is not his best gift to Indian literature.
Unlike (probably) yester-years, now finding a satirist who makes fun of anything and everything under the sun, is not a difficult task. Scan through any popular blog that doesn't share only the blogger's daily routine or his great admiration of own photography skills, you will find a satirist in him/her. In today's world, fun on the expense of something is satire, isn't it?
Hence, Nirad C Chaudhuri's this book might be regarded highly when it was written, but having seen and read so many satirists everyday, I won't consider this book a classic, despite recognizing Mr Chaudhuri as one of the most sophisticated eloquent Indian authors I have come across till date.
"Do we live at all? This would seem to be an absurd question, for none of us actually commit suicide, though, to be honest, I'd confess that I've come to feel that a large majority of the persons I know should do so because I cannot see any point in their remaining alive." With this brutal introduction when Nirad C Chaudhuri started to put forth his take on life, I got myself up highly enthused in anticipation of a deep philosophical treatise. But what I got instead was a voluble discourse on how despicable, illogical and backward our Indian social and family lives are. I think he is one of the few Bengali's who have criticized the Bengali lifestyle the most. Probably fully realizing Plato's famous dictum: "The uncriticized life is not worth living"
No doubt Choudhuri was a gifted writer, but this is not his best gift to Indian literature.
August 2, 2020
A book written from a life time of experience. A book which is worth reading if we want to understand the post independent Indian society. At times the author comes out like a bitter man but his observations are forthright.
July 16, 2022
Re-read:
This book penned in 1970, is an evaluation of life in the-then India. The book is divided into two parts, the first of which deals with societal life and the second with family life.
It includes articles published by its author in various newspapers and magazines to shed light on social and family norms, man-woman association and the principle of marital trustworthiness.
In this book Choudhury shuns his customary disparagement and tranquilly investigates the opportunity of achieving contentment in social and family life under the conditions to which people are born in this country.
Naturally, he knows that both social and family life fall within the very large scaffold of living and save the whole process of living is made sound and acceptable neither social nor family life can be content or pleasurable, that is why he has put these two aspects of living under a title which raises the general question of living soundly, living to some purpose — which alone is living to him, living unsoundly being in his view not living at all.
With a view to making life worth living he analyses the indispensable facts of social and family life in his country.
In his overpowering and insistent manner he exposes the emptiness of age-old Indian traditions which govern our system of values, family and social life and thus enables the readers to reassess the principles, ethics and measures they have lived by.
The technique of this book is not intellectual and ceremonial but uncomplicated and informal. The raison d'être is that it is not spoken to Western readers but to Indians.
This book penned in 1970, is an evaluation of life in the-then India. The book is divided into two parts, the first of which deals with societal life and the second with family life.
It includes articles published by its author in various newspapers and magazines to shed light on social and family norms, man-woman association and the principle of marital trustworthiness.
In this book Choudhury shuns his customary disparagement and tranquilly investigates the opportunity of achieving contentment in social and family life under the conditions to which people are born in this country.
Naturally, he knows that both social and family life fall within the very large scaffold of living and save the whole process of living is made sound and acceptable neither social nor family life can be content or pleasurable, that is why he has put these two aspects of living under a title which raises the general question of living soundly, living to some purpose — which alone is living to him, living unsoundly being in his view not living at all.
With a view to making life worth living he analyses the indispensable facts of social and family life in his country.
In his overpowering and insistent manner he exposes the emptiness of age-old Indian traditions which govern our system of values, family and social life and thus enables the readers to reassess the principles, ethics and measures they have lived by.
The technique of this book is not intellectual and ceremonial but uncomplicated and informal. The raison d'être is that it is not spoken to Western readers but to Indians.
April 9, 2019
Baseless and hate filled rant against Indian society, families and women. Only, he didn’t disparage the beautiful young women he flirted with liberally, supposedly with consent from his wife.
Good English is not an excuse for a weak mind.
I am hoping not to forget this book and accidentally pick up another book of his in this lifetime.
Good English is not an excuse for a weak mind.
I am hoping not to forget this book and accidentally pick up another book of his in this lifetime.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews