Bücher von Dhan Gopal Mukerji

Gay-Neck, the Story of a Pigeon is a 1928 children's novel by Dhan Gopal Mukerji that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1928. It deals with the life of Gay-Neck, a prized Indian pigeon. Mukerji wrote that "the message implicit in the book is that man and winged animals are brothers." He stated that much of the book is based on his boyhood experiences with a flock of forty pigeons and their leader, as the boy in the book is Mukerji himself. He did have to draw from the experiences of others for some parts of the book, such as those who trained messenger pigeons in the war. The book offers an insight into the life of a boy of high caste during the early 1900s and also into the training of pigeons. Several chapters are told from Gay-Neck's perspective, with the pigeon speaking in first person. Elizabeth Seeger writes in a biographical note about Mukerji that, "Gay-Neck was written in Brittany, where every afternoon he read to the children gathered about him on the beach the chapter he had written in the morning." In an article in the children's literature journal The Lion and the Unicorn, Meena G. Khorana calls the novel one of the few children's novels from Western or Indian authors to explore the Himalayas in a meaningful way (rather than simply using them as a setting), and notes the way Mukerji recalls their "grandeur and spiritual power". Gay-Neck, or Chitra-Griva, is born to a young owner in India. Gay-Neck's parents teach him how to fly, but he soon loses his father in a storm and his mother to a hawk. His master and Ghond the hunter take him out into the wilderness, but he becomes so scared by the hawks that he flees and ends up in a lamasery where the Buddhist monks are able to cure him of his fear. When his young master returns home he finds Gay-Neck waiting for him. But Gay-Neck decides to go on other long journeys, much to the boy's consternation. Then, during World War I, Gay-Neck and Ghond end up journeying to Europe where Gay-Neck serves as a messenger pigeon. He is chased by German machine-eagles (planes) and is severely traumatized when one of his fellow messenger pigeons is shot down. Gay-Neck and Ghond barely survive, and Gay-Neck is unable to fly. Ghond, Gay-Neck, and his master return to the lamasery near Singalila, where Ghond and Gay-Neck need to be cleansed of the hate and fear of the war. After that, Ghond succeeds in hunting down a buffalo that killed a villager, but feels remorse for having to kill the buffalo. Gay-Neck disappears once more, but when the other two return home, they find, to their joy, that Gay-Neck had already flown there ahead of them. (wikipedia.org)

Kari the Elephant (1922) is a children''s book by Dhan Gopal Mukerji. Published the year Mukerji moved from San Francisco to New York City, Kari the Elephant is the debut children''s book from the first Indian writer to gain a popular audience in the United States. Although less popular than his novel Gay Neck: The Story of a Pigeon (1927), which won the 1928 Newbery Medal, Kari the Elephant is a beautiful tale of kinship between the human and animal worlds set in the lush forests of the author''s native India. "Kari, the elephant, was five months old when he was given to me to take care of. I was nine years old and I could reach his back if I stood on tiptoe. He seemed to remain that high for nearly two years. Perhaps we grew together; that is probably why I never found out just how tall he was." Raised side by side, Kari and his handler grow inseparable through their travels in the Indian countryside. As their adventures bring them to cities, jungles, and distant lands, boy and elephant overcome danger and learn the true meaning of friendship. Although he never returned to his native country, Mukerji left an inspiring legacy through his literary achievement and unwavering commitment to Indian independence. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Dhan Gopal Mukerji''s Kari the Elephant is a classic of Indian American literature reimagined for modern readers.

Sandhya, or Songs of Twilight (1917) is a poetry collection by Dhan Gopal Mukerji. Published while Mukerji was a young student in California, Sandhya, or Songs of Twilight is the second collection of poems from the first Indian writer to gain a popular audience in the United States. Lyrical and romantic, Mukerji¿s poems capture his commitment to beauty while maintaining his sense of isolation and exile as a young man living far from home. In ¿Symbolism,¿ the collection¿s opening poem, Mukerji is a poet in search of a song: ¿Tongueless the bell! / Lute without a song! / It is not night / It is God¿s dawn, / Silence its unending song.¿ Desperate for the beauty and truth of the world outside ¿pain¿s window,¿ he finds ¿Faith¿s candle lit,¿ lighting ¿Eternity¿s scroll¿ for the soul to read at last. Lyrically gifted and profoundly mysterious, Mukerji presents his creative process as a struggle with human emotions. Later, he grounds his feeling in the country he left behind: ¿O, frail, faint call which I seek to echo! / O, breath of love laden with the aroma of my soul! / Why seek I ever without, O guest at my door?¿ In ¿After a Bengali Song,¿ he provides a powerful image of isolation and longing from a heart that remains ¿without¿ for as long as his exile continues. Although he never returned to his native country, Mukerji left an inspiring legacy through his literary achievement and unwavering commitment to Indian independence. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Dhan Gopal Mukerji¿s Sandhya, or Songs of Twilight is a classic of Indian American literature reimagined for modern readers.

Rajani: Songs of the Night (1916) is a poetry collection by Dhan Gopal Mukerji. Published while Mukerji was a young student in California, Rajani: Songs of the Night is the debut collection of poems from the first Indian writer to gain a popular audience in the United States. Lyrical and romantic, Mukerji¿s poems capture his commitment to beauty while maintaining his sense of isolation and exile as a young man living far from home. In ¿Bhikshüs Song,¿ the collection¿s opening poem, the poet greets a Buddhist monk at the door, returning in memory to his native Bengal. Repeating the Bhikshüs mantra throughout¿¿Om Moni Padme Om!¿¿Mukerji allows himself to ¿drift with the stream / To [his] destination of dream.¿ An exile, Mukerji can only reach his homeland through memory and song, by infusing English meter with the sights and sounds of Bengal. ¿A singer that sings of sorrow; / Whose night knows no tomorrow; / [His] song finds its source / In its moonless immensity.¿ Although he never returned to his native country, Mukerji left an inspiring legacy through his literary achievement and unwavering commitment to Indian independence. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Dhan Gopal Mukerji¿s Rajani: Songs of the Night is a classic of Indian American literature reimagined for modern readers.