Entering the Maze: Queer Fiction

Krishnagopal Mallick’s works transport the reader back to a nostalgic time when Kolkata had a more relaxed pace of life. His unselfconscious prose pulls us into a city of trams, quiet lanes and quaint by-lanes, and a life lived with honesty and simple joys.

And yet, rarely has Bengali literature witnessed such clear-eyed narratives of public and private violence, sexuality and humour. Unusual in their frank depiction of sexual encounters and behaviour, the two short stories and a novella in this collection are a significant addition to queer literature in India, now made accessible to readers in English.

Entering the Maze introduces us to a craftsman of deadpan storytelling, who infuses North Kolkata with a queer radiance unmatched in Indian writing. Once one enters the world of these translations one cannot emerge unmoved, unchanged or unaffected.