A Brief History of Bangladeshi Writing in English

Bangladeshi Writing in English: The Early Bards and Contemporary Poets

BWE came into being after the Independence of Bangladesh in 1971. There is no authorized list of writers for this new literary genre. I have, however, tried to make a rough outline of one, which includes the names of writers who are poets, novelists, short story writers and who produce other types of work with literary merit in English, and, I might add, whose work has earned them some recognition.

Razia Khan’s (1936—2011) poetry books ‘Argus Under Anaesthesia’ (1976) and ‘Cruel April’ (1977) attest to her pre-eminence among English poets in Bangladesh. Farida Majid’s anthology of English poems ‘Thursday Evening Anthology’ (1977) established her as an important literary figure on the London poetry scene in the seventies. Kaiser Haq’s poetic output is quite substantial, including ‘Black Orchid’ (1996), and ‘Published in the Streets of Dhaka: Collected poems1966—2006’. Haq is a consummate artist who paints the contemporary Bangladeshi scene with  powerful imagination and artistic precision. Feroz Ahmed-ud-din’s ‘Handful of Dust’ (1975) vividly portrays the loss of vision in contemporary life. Nuzhat Amin Mannan’s ‘Rhododendron Lane’ (2004) is rich with imagery and has a distinctive style. Syed Najmuddin Hashim’s ‘Hopefully the Pomegranate’ (2007) draws allusions from European mythology, makes use of biblical anecdotes and weaves them into local stories. Rumana Siddique’s ‘Five Faces of Eve: Poems’ (2007) reflects the timeless experience of being a woman through the symbol of her biblical ancestor — Eve. Nadeem Rahman’s ‘Politically Incorrect Poems’ (2004) deals with post-liberation war themes and is typified by a highly individualistic attitude, sharp social sensibility, and keen political observation. Mir Mahfuz Ali’s poetry has appeared in London Magazine, Poetry London, Poetry Review and PN Review and he was shortlisted for the New Writing Ventures Award in 2007. Apart from writing poetry, he is an active member of Exiled Writer’s Ink and is working to promote the creative expression of diaspora writers. 

Bangladeshi Fiction in English: A Wave of Gripping Narratives

The realm of BWE is being dominated by a host of talented novelists.

Adib Khan’s novels ‘Seasonal Adjustments’ (1994), ‘Solitude of Illusions’ (1996), ‘The Storyteller’ (2000), ‘Homecoming’ (2005) and ‘Spiral Road’ (2007) have won global acclaim, and are mostly concerned with themes of self-identity, the sense of belonging, migration and social dislocation. Khan has “undergone a transcultural transition from depicting the imaginary world of South Asian immigrants in Australia to other “othernesses”” [5]. Monica Ali’s debut novel, ‘Brick Lane’ (2003) was well received by critics in the United Kingdom and the United States and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Even though Germaine Greer claimed that the real Bengali Muslims who live in the real Brick Lane “smart under an Islamic prejudice”, and are not pleased with being represented as “irreligious and disorderly, the impure among the pure”, Ali still achieved success. Greer also chastised the “proto-Bengali writer with a Muslim name, [for] portraying them as all of that and more” [6]. Tahmima Anam’s debut novel ‘A Golden Age’ (2007) was the winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Set in war-torn Bangladesh, the novel’s main strength lies in “ its decision to show war from the perspective of the women who cannot join the armed resistance and must instead find a way to live in the limbo world of a city in curfew, where daily life must continue its deceptive normality even while there are guns buried beside the rose-bushes, and visits to the Urdu-speaking butcher are fraught with political tension because he’s believed to be a collaborator” [7]. Her second novel ‘The Good Muslim’ (2012) examines the aftermath of the Bangladesh Liberation War. Shazia Omar’s first novel, ‘Like a Diamond in the Sky’ (2009) gives a dismal picture of drug addiction in Bangladesh. A well-researched work based on real conditions, her characters are “multi-dimensional and…they provoke an emotional response” [8]. Mahmud Rahman’s debut short story collection ‘Killing the Water’ (2010) covers a wide variety of themes ranging from the liberation war of Bangladesh to racial violence against new immigrants in the USA. K. Anis Ahmed’s collection ‘Good Night, Mr. Kissinger and Other Stories’ (2012) offers stories based on different aspects of Dhaka city.

Neamat Imam’s ‘The Black Coat’ (2013) is a controversial novel, which seeks to engage with the politics and history of Bangladesh. It is “a dark and dystopian portrait of Bangladesh under Prime Minister Sheikh Mujib” [9]. Farah Ghuznavi’s debut short story collection, ‘Fragments of Riversong’ (2013) vividly portrays the trials and tribulations of people in post-war Bangladesh. Her stories “tackle day-to-day issues with sincerity and realism without being judgmental or moralistic….” [10]. Maria Chaudhuri’s debut book ‘Beloved Strangers’ (2014) is a memoir which has “a duality of texture and meaning, [and] the gentle unraveling of a not-unusual childhood in Dhaka with the later intensity of her adult experience” [11]. Zia Haider Rahman has earned huge critical acclaim after the publication of his debut novel ‘In the Light of What We Know’ (2014), which, in Salman Rushdie’s view, is an “everything novel”. Set against the backdrop of economic crisis and the war in Afghanistan, the novel is “a wide-ranging examination of global politics, rootlessness and post-colonial guilt that travels from Bangladesh to Oxford, Kabul to New York, and that has already drawn comparisons with Sebald, Conrad and Waugh” [12]. Razia Sultana Khan’s ‘The Good Wife and Other Tales of Seduction’ (2007) is a collection of fourteen short stories based on the day-to-day lives of people in Bangladesh whose roles are characterized by tradition, culture, gender, politics and religion.

Even I have had my fair share of success within the literary circles of Bangladesh. My debut short story collection ‘Nineteen seventy one and other stories’ was published in 2011.

A Great Future Ahead 

Although ‘Bangladeshi writing in English’ is a nascent branch of literature, it may have a great future. Bangladeshi English writers are placed to play a role similar to the writers of India or of Pakistan or of Sri Lanka. Take, for instance, the annual Hay Festival of literature in Dhaka that began in 2011. Its existence encourages hopes of success for Bangladeshi writers composing pieces in English. This vast global literary gathering, i.e. rounds of literary talks and discussions, recitations, and the exchange of ideas and information helps prepare a lot of ground for BWE writers. Still, the practice of creative writing in English remains confined to particular quarters of society. To allow the genre to grow independently, BWE has to be liberated from the literary coterie, i.e. its small circle of writers, publishers and admirers. It has to be rescued from the close confines of academia; namely, the varsity English departments and the English medium schools and colleges. English newspapers should not be limited to “publishing only a literature page, but should also provide active support and an enabling platform” [13]. The scarcity of Bangladeshi writers in English necessitates bringing out anthologies of creative writing to help facilitate the emergence and growth of fresh talent. Literary magazines and journals should choose writing based solely on merit to promote the development of BWE.

The BWE genre could be a global vehicle for national themes, one where indigenous subjects could gain access to universal literary circles and exchange in a discourse about the growing sensibilities of the global audience.