Sujit Mukherjee

Sujit Mukherjee (1930–2003) was an Indian writer, literary critic, translator and editor working primarily in English. He is also remembered for his writings on cricket, a subject to which he brought a literary and reflective sensibility uncommon in Indian sports writing of his time.

Background

Mukherjee belonged to the generation of Indian writers in English who came of age in the decades after Independence. He combined an academic interest in literary studies with a long association with publishing, and contributed to the development of translation studies in India as a recognised field of inquiry.

Writing and themes

His work moved across several areas:

• Literary criticism and translation studies, where he wrote on the theory and practice of translating Indian literature into English, and on the reception of Indian writing.
• Cricket writing, in which he treated the game as a cultural and literary subject rather than only as sport, examining its place in Indian life and its history.
• Editorial and translation work, helping bring writing from Indian languages to a wider English-reading audience.

Significance

Mukherjee is regarded as one of the early Indian voices to argue for serious critical attention to translation as a creative and scholarly activity. His cricket writing, similarly, contributed to a small but distinctive Indian tradition of reflective, essayistic prose on the game.

Related topics

• Indian Writing in English
• Translation Studies in India
• Cricket in India
• Indian Literary Criticism

References

• Wikidata entity: Q18749108