Robert C. (Bobby) Luczak

The 35-year-old narrator and protagonist of Song of Kali, Bobby is an obscure poet writing for Harper's magazine and collaborating with Abe Bronstein in publishing a small literary magazine, Other Voices. He grows up in a Polish-American neighborhood in Chicago, IL. A small book of his poetry, entitled Other Voices has recently appeared and has met with positive reviews. Bobby lives in Exeter, NH, with wife his Indian-born wife of eight years. Amrita is a 33-year-old mathematics professor, born in India. They have a baby daughter, Victoria, over whom Bobby dotes and gushes enthusiastically. In June of 1977, Harper's pays for Bobby to fly to Calcutta, India, to fetch a manuscript, purportedly written by the poet M. Das. He is to write up the adventure, including an interview with Das, who has been presumed dead for years. Bobby is reluctant to take along his family but...