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{{short description|1971 Bengali novel by Santosh Kumar Ghosh}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Shesh Namaskar
| image = Shesh Namaskar cover.jpeg
| image_size =
| caption = Cover of English translation; 2013
| author = [[Santosh Kumar Ghosh]]
| title_orig = শেষ নমস্কার
| orig_lang_code = bn
| translator = Ketaki Datta
| country = [[India]]
| language = [[Bengali language|Bengali]]
| subject =
| genre = [[Epistolary novel]]
| set_in =
| publisher = Dey's Publishing
| publisher2 = [[Sahitya Akademi]]
| pub_date = 1971
| english_pub_date = 2013
| published =
| awards = [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] (1972)
| oclc = 859170615
| dewey = 891.44371
| congress = PK1718.G477
}}
'''Shesh Namaskar''' ({{IPA-bn|ʃeʃ nʌmskɑːr|pron|Shesh Namaskar audio.ogg}}) (The Last Salute) is a 1971, Indian, [[Bengali language|Bengali-language]] novel that was written by [[Santosh Kumar Ghosh]]. The novel, which is considered to be its author's [[magnum opus]], is written in the form of a series of letters from a son to his deceased mother. It won the [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] in 1972.

==Publication==
''Shesh Namaskar'', which is subtitled ''Shricharaneshu Make'' (To my Mother), was first published in 1971 by Dey's Publishing.<ref name="Sarker1973">{{cite journal |last=Sarker |first=Subhash Chandra |title=A Novel Of Profound Human Sentiments |journal=The Modern Review |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99939/page/n623 |year=August 1973 |volume=133 |issue=2 |publisher=Modern Review Office |oclc=1028547963 |pages=105–108}}</ref>

Being a [[Confessional writing|confessional narrative]],<ref>{{cite book|title=The Illustrated Weekly of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b3M6AQAAIAAJ|volume=93|date=January 1972|publisher=Published for the proprietors, Bennett, Coleman & Company, Limited, at the Times of India Press|page=29|oclc=1034956988}}</ref> the novel is written in the form of a series of letters from a son to his mother, who has died. Through these letters, the narrator seeks forgiveness from his mother just before his death, telling the story using the [[Second person narration|second-person]] narrative technique.<ref name="Lal1992">{{cite book|editor-last=Lal|editor-first=Mohan|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KnPoYxrRfc0C&pg=PA4009|year=1992|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-260-1221-3|pages=4009–4010}}</ref><ref name="Sarma2014">{{cite journal|last=Sarma|first=Atreya|title=Shesh Namaskar (The Last Salute)|url=http://www.museindia.com/Home/ViewContentData?arttype=book%20review(s)&issid=53&menuid=4723|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417201655/http://www.museindia.com/Home/ViewContentData?arttype=book%20review(s)&issid=53&menuid=4723|issue=53|date=January–February 2014|archive-date=17 April 2019|journal=[[Muse India]]|accessdate=18 April 2019|issn=0975-1815}}</ref> The author tries to concentrate on self-analysis and his search for the meaning of life and of death through a confessional self-projection into the narrator's persona.<ref name="Datta1988">{{cite book|editor-last=Datta|editor-first=Amaresh|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Devraj to Jyoti|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zB4n3MVozbUC&pg=PA1404|year=1988|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-260-1194-0|page=1404}}</ref>

==Characters==
The principle characters of the novel:<ref name="KMGeorge1997">{{cite book|editor-last=George|editor-first=K. M.|title=Masterpieces of Indian literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dXFOAAAAYAAJ|volume=1|year=1997|publisher=[[National Book Trust]]|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-237-1978-8|page=181–183}}</ref>

* The narrator
* Pranab{{snd}}narrator's father, an unsuccessful playwright
* Tanu{{snd}}narrator's mother
* Sudhirmama (lit. Sudhir Uncle){{snd}}Tanu's friend
* Rajani{{snd}}an almost blind girl

==Synopsis==
Because the author does not want to be dependent on an abundance of events, he selects a few events, observes them poignantly and analyses them with meticulous care. As a result, ''Shesh Namaskar'' does not have an overt plot or a sustained story-telling style.<ref name="Lal1992"/>

The novel starts with a letter from a son to his mother, Tanu, followed with another such letter each week. At the end of the novel, the narrator realizes the search for the mother is endless and that perhaps every son searches for his mother and with her, the supreme spirit. The novel ends with the narrator asking whether this search ever ends. The story develops through the letters using [[Flashback (narrative)|flashbacks]]. Each character reveals a story in their statements.<ref name="KMGeorge1997"/>

==Reception==
''Shesh Namaskar'' received the [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] in 1972. A translation into English by Ketaki Datta was published in 2013.<ref name="Sarma2014"/><ref>{{cite interview |last=Datta |first=Ketaki |subject-link= |interviewer=Elisabetta Marino |title=An interview with Ketaki Datta |url=https://dspace2.flinders.edu.au/xmlui/handle/2328/35462 |publisher=Flinders University |location= |date=23 July 2015 |access-date=18 April 2019 |hdl=2328/35462}}</ref><ref name="Akademi1990">{{cite book|last=Roy|first=Jibendra Sinha|title=Sahitya Akademi Awards: Books and Writers : 1955-1978|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.537973/page/n53|year=1990|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-7201-014-0|page=52}}</ref> For its profound sensibility and realistic depiction, the novel is considered an outstanding contribution to [[Bengali literature]].<ref name="Lal1992"/>

Subhash Chandra Sarker praised ''Shesh Namaskar'' for its "remarkable use of Bengali language" and its "ability to make a vivid presentation of [a] complicated scene with the most common words".<ref name="Sarker1973"/> Critic Amalendu Bose highlighted the use of technique and "remarkable" quality.<ref name="Bose1981">{{cite journal|last=Bose|first=Amalendu|title=Bengali: Yeatsian Undertones|journal=[[Indian Literature (journal)|Indian Literature]]|date=November–December 1981|volume=24|issue=6|publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]]|location=New Delhi|page=211–212|jstor=23330141}}{{closed access}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive|id=in.ernet.dli.2015.303039}} (Bengali)
* {{Internet Archive|id=in.ernet.dli.2015.551225}} (Hindi translation)
* {{Google books|id=9orUAaO5gIgC}}

[[Category:1971 Indian novels]]
[[Category:Indian Bengali-language novels]]
[[Category:Epistolary novels]]
[[Category:Sahitya Akademi Award-winning works]]
[[Category:Second-person narrative novels]]

Shesh Namaskar - Revision history

imported>Gazal world: added Category:Second-person narrative novels using HotCat