Between the flaps are assorted the free wanderings of poetic and spiritual visions couched in a language of heightened sensations that constantly prod the reader to reach for ‘a higher language’ beyond the printed words. Diction is broken free of the fetters of rigorous metrical composition, being taken off on the wings of free verse. Yet everywhere the charge and cadence of poetry are palpable. Frequent forays into allusions and criticism or annotations variegate the thematic structure of the book that splits itself into the original poetry of Jay Basu in Part One and his transcreations from the Nobel laureate Bengali poet, Rabindranath Tagore, in Part Two. A prospective reader of the book will presumably find it a delightful ‘read’ as s/he passes from the snapshots of the brute, visceral realities of life to poignant digs into the individual’s lonely inward living with existential angst and redemptive spiritual visions. Prophets and Parching Lilies encompasses a certain fullness of the human experience of life in its endless unfolding pageants.
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Jay Basu
Dr Jay Sankar Basu, writing poems in the pen-name of Jay Basu, is a poet and critic currently working as Associate Professor of ELT [English Language Teaching] at the Centre for Language, Translation and Cultural Studies, under the aegis of the School of Humanities of a premier [NAAC-accredited ‘A’ Grade] State University.
His childhood was spent in a part of Kolkata where a serene ambience of nature still prevailed unmolested by the urban intrusion. His memory of howling jackals impressed his childhood consciousness so much so that even in his mellowing years he longs for them with a heart-throb. In his poems, images of howling jackals, hooting owls, nocturnal birds, misty morning, descending gloom of evening or midnight starry sky and mystic glimpses are preponderant, undercut by frequent forays into the visceral actualities of life, alongside a gentle play of satire and humour on anything under the sun.
He did his PhD on the avant-garde modernist English short story. He is an author, published from abroad and India, of Critical Studies on Fiction and Film Studies. He published altogether 43 ISBN-marked books of poetry and criticism. He was successively conferred the 74th and 75th Indian Independence Day Award of Honour by Gujarat Sahitya Academy (Govt. of Gujarat, India).
Lone Stars Magazine of Texas, USA, Literara Vocea of Romania, Pentasi B of China, Global Poetry Library, Global Poetry Fashion and Serbian Anthology of World Poets, 2021, are a few among others to have featured Jay Basu as a World Poet, alongside publishing his biography and poems. He was also awarded the honour of a poet of excellence by WEWU, Hyderabad. Jay Basu is a contributor to several journals/anthologies such as Mirror’s Literary Criticism, The Gorkha Times, Cascades: The Teachers’ Treasure Trove, Anthology of Confluence Sensibility, A Rendezvous of Words and Serbian Anthology of Word Poets.
His college and university days were turbulent on the crest of Naxalite movements during the late seventies. His tilt to left-wing politics petered out as a sequel to his disenchantment with its deviation from the Marxist ideals. Quietly severing his fledgling tryst with left politics, he refocussed his interest in academic studies and creative writing on entering the educational precincts as a young lecturer in English at the age of 23.
