"Moonlight into Marzipan" unfolds the pain of shattered dreams in perhaps the subtlest way. Promothesh the male protagonist thought that his discovery will bring all the fortunes but on the contrary it only brought the series of disastrous event one after the other. Dreams are lost. Shattered are the emotions. What remains is only the half forgotten tune of that long lost dream. The extremely poetic yet oblique title "Moonlight into Marzipan" thus mocks the stereotyped.
Sunetra Gupta is an acclaimed novelist, essayist and also a scientist. At present days Sunetra lives in Oxford with her husband and two daughters. She is Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology at Oxford University`s Department of Zoology. She was graduated in 1987 from Princeton University and received her PhD from the University of London in 1992. Sunetra was born in Calcutta in 1965 and wrote her first works of fiction in Bengali. She is an accomplished translator of the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore. Many of her works were influenced by the poet`s write-up. Sunetra`s childhood and her father also had a great impact on her work. Her early years were spent moving between Ethiopia, Zambia and England. When she was 11 the family returned to Calcutta, a city which continues to inspire her writing. In many of her stories the backdrop was set at Calcutta. She describes her father as extremely important figure in her life. He was an extraordinary person and had indefatigable energy for creativity and what he called "creative criticism." He lectured in African history at Calcutta University but he also spent time writing and lecturing on cinema. The author`s father also wrote novels, short stories and essays on a wide number of topics. The inclination of art and culture was transmitted from her father to the author.
Synopsis:
`Moonlight into Marzipan` by Sunetra Gupta is set at the backdrop of a dilapidating Calcutta garage, a man strays blasphemously close to the secret of life. Promothesh`s discovery promises to bring him fame and riches, instead it looses a chain of events which begins with his arrival in London accompanied by his wife, Esha. Esha`s death leaves him marooned and confused. His astonishing discovery often slips from his grasp. Into this slack of ambition and self-pity slips love, in the human form of his biographer, Alexandra Vorobyova, and the devil himself, in the very human form of Yuri Sen. In this novel, Sunetra Gupta tackles a provocative idea, a perfect vehicle to display the brilliance of her vivid gemlike style. Sunetra Gupta brilliantly captures life`s very texture, its warp and woof of fate and decision, law and randomness very easily and that is her uniqueness that makes her unique in every aspect.
Moonlight into Marzipan by Sunetra Gupta is published by the famous publishing house Penguin books.
Life is captured with its entire color, fatality, frustration, and fullness in this novel "Moonlight into Marzipan". The harmonious blend of randomness and law, the tuneful melody of the sigh of fate and the strictness of decision offers the novel a remarkable diction.
