A surreal graphic novel by Subimal Misra

I first heard the name of Subimal Misra in 2005, from my friend, Dr Mrinal Bose. I began translating his short fiction soon after that. But by this time I had become entranced with the medium of graphic novels, ever since I discovered Maus by Art Spiegelman in the 1990s, and went on to read and collect the work of some of the major names associated with this genre, like Osamu Tezuka, Will Eisner, Joe Sacco, Marjane Satrapi, etc.–all now available thanks to the internet and Amazon.

As I read Subimal Misra–I was therefore seized by the urge to bring out his stories, or "anti-stories", in graphic form. And thus began a parallel quest even as I translated Misra, to find an artist who would collaborate with me on this. In 2009, I came upon the three volumes of stories by Yoshihiro Tatsumi–and felt that Misra was a Bengali Tatsumi in words, or that Tatsumi was the Japanese Misra in visual storytelling–their work seemed similar to me despite all the obvious differences. And I was convinced of the validity and potential of my vision.

Subimal Misra's writing is very visual, in fact for him the stories are "films". Influenced by Eisenstein and Godard, he tried to introduce cinematic language into Bangla writing. So there are compelling reasons to think of a graphic interpretation of his stories.

After I had given up on my "Subimal-graphic" quest,  in late 2017, I met Sambaran Das, thanks to film-maker Nilanjan Bhattacharya, and soon after that, he committed to collaborating on the "Subimal-graphic" project, towards  a volume of Misra stories in graphic telling. Sambaran selected a story to begin with, "An Evening in December '72", and devoting as much time as he could spare, he completed his drawing work in September 2018.

Although Sambaran and I had an English version in mind as our output, the idea of a standalone Bangla version also came up. After all, it is only appropriate that it is a Bangla—reading audience that welcomes the publication of a graphic novel by Subimal Misra.

ILLUSTRATIONS: SUBIMAL MISRA

So here at last, is a Subimal Misra story in graphic telling, and I hope this signals the beginning of a whole new domain of Subimal readership, and provides inspiration to a host of creative artists to jump in. We in South Asia have prodigious talent; it is time for us to make a mark in graphic literature. This work is a small step in that direction.

V. Ramaswamy's translation of The Earth Quakes: Late Anti-Stories by Subimal Misra was published in 2024.

Sambaran Das is a multidisciplinary practising artist, with a focus on the decadent metropolis and its vernacular popular visual culture.