Paul Detienne, Belgian Jesuit priest, Died at 91

  Religion

Father Paul Detienne was born in 1924, and died on October 31, 2016.

He was a Belgian Jesuit priest,

Paul was noted for his literary endeavours in the Bengali language.

Paul Detienne was popularly known as Father Detienne.

Paul Detienne started his religious training in the early 1940s and arrived in West Bengal in 1949, where he stayed until 1977.

Detienne studied Bengali language and literature at St Xavier’s College, Kolkata and at Shantiniketan and went on to become a noted writer of Bengali in his own right.

Paul Detienne was popularly known for his column Diaryr Chhenra Pata (Torn Pages of My Diary) which first appeared in the premiere Bengali literary magazine Desh and ran on and off for many years.

Eventually, they compiled into a book.

Beside diaristic books, he published include Atpoure Dinpanjee and Rojnamcha as well as the compilation Godyo Songraha.

Detienne was credited with rescuing the Bengali Itihasmala by William Carey, the 18th-century missionary who did pioneering work on the Bengali language.

Paul Detienne also translated writers such as Saint-Exupery and Mircea Eliade into Bengali.

Detienne’s life’s work was rewarded by the Paschimbanga Bangla Academy in 2010, when he won the prestigious Rabindra Smriti Puroshkar.

He died in Brussels.

Paul Detienne passed away at 91 years old.