One of the greatest and most versatile writers in the Bengali literary sphere succeeding Tagore, Buddhadeva Bose (1908–1974) was a poet, playwright, novelist, short story writer, literary critic and essayist of great distinction. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1967 and was felicitated with the Padma Bhushan in 1970. Few realize that Bose was also one of the best writers of English prose in modern Indian writing in English. This volume brings together, for the first time, a selection of his writings in the English language. Bose’s subjects range from world literature, Bengali writers and Tagore, to Bengali gastronomy, Picasso and the films of Charlie Chaplin. These wide-ranging and diverse essays are not only a delight to read, they are also some of the best literary criticisms written by an Indian critic since Independence.