India's Beat Generation

While interest in the poets has certainly piqued in recent years readers will be left with more questions than answers after reading the book.

The Hungryalists
The Poets Who Sparked a Revolution
Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury
Penguin India
Pages 187; Price: Rs 599
 
This is the first book in English on a generation of writers in the 1960s who called themselves the Hungryalists. They were self-proclaimed “anti-establishment” writers and wrote mostly in Bengali. Some of their publications, which were bulletins, were also published in English and Hindi. In the “Epilogue”, Ms Bhattacharjee Chowdhury acknowledges that the Hungry Generation never made a comeback in Bengali literature, but “recent years have seen a better understanding of the movement”. While interest in the poets has certainly piqued