This is a very personal book, a poignant book, a compelling
book, from beginning to end. The Preface sets the tone:
self-reflexive and confessional. Wilce once wanted to be
a medical doctor; he became instead a missionary in Bangladesh,
but felt “guilt and pervasive disquiet” in
that role; and while in Bengal – actually, in
neighboring Calcutta – he suffered a “nightmarish”
family tragedy involving medical practitioners. He later
resigned from the mission and went to graduate school;
then he returned to Bangladesh to study complaint and lament
as expressed in one locality within the Bangla-speaking
area. (“Bangla” and “Bengali” are
two names for the same language. Wilce refers to the language
as Bangla; so shall I.)