Poetry and Performance

Exploring the connection between poetry and performance are growing feature of the work of Dr. William Radice.  At a lecture in IGNCA (March 13) he spoke about this, mentioning in particular his poems Gifts (2002), his Myths and Legends of India (2001), his recently completed trilogy of long poems, his translation in progress of Michael Madhusudan Dutt’s Meghanand-badh Kabya, and the poetry and music programmes he has started to do with his daughter Helen, a professional harpist.

Dr. Radice, author or editor of nearly 30 books is well known for his translations of the poems, stories and plays of abindranath Tagore.  He translates from German as well as Bengali, and has recently publishedTraces of My Father, a translation of Vastersupuren, an autobiographic novel by Sigfrid Gauch.  In India, his latest books are ‘A Hundred Letters from England’ and ‘Poetry and Community: Lectures and Essays, 1991-2001′.

Dr. Radice discussed during the lecture whether, in an age of multi-media, poetry needs to be liberated from the printed page.  He has published six books of his own poem and he is Senior Lecture in Bengali at School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London.