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Tentative Title: Projecting Ambiance Of The Liberation War Of Bangladesh Through The Select Contemporary Fiction: A Critical Study

Projecting The Ambiance Of The Liberation War Of Bangladesh Through Select                                   Contemporary Fiction: A Critical Study        

                                             PhD Synopsis

                                            

                                              Submitted by

                                       

                                         Javid Ahmad Reshi

                    

                                      

                                                  

                                                      To

                                       Department of English

                                     Aligarh Muslim University

                                           Aligarh 202002

Tentative Title:

Projecting Ambiance Of The Liberation War Of Bangladesh Through The             

Select Contemporary Fiction: A Critical Study

Introduction:

Literature from antiquity till present day has been reflecting the outside phenomenal world. From world across, if we see the history of the tradition of literature, we won't fail to notice this fact that it has always been deeply in sync with the human history. Literature, like a shadow, has travelled the same roads as mankind has, touching deeply upon its every aspect. There is no denial of the fact either that literature since its inception has evolved as an interdisciplinary field of sudies. Its indepth nexus with history, polity, philosophy etc has endowed it with unparalleled dynamics.The perpetuity and remarkable bond literature has always endowed, is with history. Be it Homer's Iliad or Vayasa's Mahabarata, historical plays of the Elizabethan era or the Biblical infexion during the 17^th century, the heroic plays of 18^th century or the broadening canvas of 20^th century; history has been unremitingly manifsting itself  in the field of literary studies. Along the same lines do we see the picture of Bangladeshi literature being portrayed.

The formation of Bangladesh is a very recent phenomenon in the modern day history. As an indepent nation it was not spared with a peaceful epoch, which couled have been manifested in its literature. Its wounds are still green. Therefore what it has to narrate are the pangs of inhuman violence following The Liberation War of 1971 which swallowed a major chunk of its population. This war has become a dominant theme of Bangladeshi literature, overshadowing other aspects. Writers have started engaging with it actively in the litrary spaces, giving rise to a new body of literature there.

Before becoming an independent nation, Bangladesh was a part of British-India known as Bengal. With the partition of British-India and the formation of Pakistan in 1947, Bengal was divided into East-Bengal and West-Bengal on the basis of religion. East-Bengal, with its Muslim majority was formed into East-Pakistan and West-Bengal with its Hindu majority remained with India. It was only after the rise of Bengali nationalist and free determination movement, due to the ehnic and linguistic discrimination and the stepmotherly treatment of what was then East-Pakistan by the more dominant West wing and the consequent Liberation War of 1971 that the present day Independent People's Republic Of Bangladesh came into existence. According to the Indian and Bangladeshi sources this war devoured up to 3 million lives and displaced 30 million people internally. However, the other side has denied the no's as a hyperbolic statement. The war began due the Operation Searchlight launched by the Pakistani Military Junta against the people of East-Pakistan on the night of 25^th March 1971, resulting into a nine-month long war which ended only after “the Instrument Of Surrender” signed by Gen. A.A.K Niazi on 16^th of Dec. 1971.

         We Know that there is no good-war, doesn't matter whatever the circumstances, a war can never be justified. Every war is accompanied by the horrors, the loss of lives, trauma, rape, bloodshed. In war everything is reduced either to an enemy or to a target. Similarly The Liberation War of 1971 has left a scathing memory, a good number of lives lost, a huge bloodshed, compelling Bangladeshi writers to narrate the horrors of this unprecedented war in the history of their nation. Bangladesh's literature has noted a deep impression of this War of Independence.The best part of its narratives have been written only in the  in the regional language of Bangladesh, that is why the world is yet to know the severity of its trauma, the actual gain and loss through this war. Before the war took place Bangladeshi litrature engaged with other socio-cultural and religious themes.

The genesis of Bangladeshi novel lie deep in the Bengali novel, about which Ananda Sanker and Lila Ray write, “When the novel was introduced in Bengali in the middle of the 19^th century, the form itself was new, the prose in which it was written was new, the secular tone was new in a country hitherto wholly dominated by religion, and the society in which and for which it was written was new”.(P.168) But after the novelists like Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Manik Bandopadhyay, Tarashankar Bandopadhyay, sarat Chandra Chattopahyay leapt on the stage, the newly introduced genre was developed with such dexterity that soon it became ‘mature'. But all these literary activities took place in Calcutta. The literature of Bangladesh fell almost 50 years behind the Bengali novels. It flourished only later with notable success.

Initially Bangladeshi novels were dominated by the religious themes but later on attention was paid to the real Bangali life. But with the advent of Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971, a great number of novels depicting its horrors and the post-war disillusionment followed. Among others, Anwar Pasha, Shaukat Osman, Selina Hossain, Mahmudul Haq, Anisul Haque, Syed shamsul Haq, Humayun Ahmad, Rashid Haider, Harun Habib, Rabiya khatun etc are the notable names with this theme.

The aim of the present work is to deal with such (select) contemporary novels written or translated into English, and to analyze the effects of Liberatiion War on the people of  Bangladesh and its literature. How has it shaped the present Bangladeshi literature. What experience have Bangladeshi women and children lived. What differences does fiction narrate between pre-war and post-war Bangladesh. What role does Nation and fiction play for each other during the time of crisis?

One such novelist whose works have actively engaged with the Liberation war is Anisul hoque. Born on 4^th  of March 1965 in Rangpur, this Bangladeshi author, screenwriter, novelist, dramatist and journalist has witnessed so beautifully the pain and trauma of Liberation war in his writings in general and in his novel Maa,2003 in particular. An English translation of this novel titled ‘Freedom's Mother' was published by Palimpsest from New Delhi in 2012. Magfar Ahmed Chowdhury aka Azad and his mother Shafia Begum mirror the brutality of this war. He is caught up by Pakistan army on 29^th Aug 1971, and tortured brutally and martyred. His mother Shafia carries on searching for him, but his dead body is not found. The Indian Express noted the release of its English translation and described the book as, “Set against the backdrop of the Bangladesh war, it is a compelling story of love and betrayal and the human cost of conflict.”

Another novel ‘A Golden Age, 2007' is a debut novel by a Bangladeshi born British writer Tahmima Anam (born 08 Oct 1975). It tells the story of same war through the eyes of one family. Rehana haque, the protagonist of the novel, loses the custody of her children and their involvement in the war after her husband's death. Her son joins the Mukti Bahini and her daughter reports from the Calcutta. This is the story of a mother who is pulverized between the love of her children and her allegiance to the freedom struggle of her nation.

‘Rashed, My Friend' is the English translation of ‘Amer Bondhu Rashed' by Mohammad Zafar Iqbal translated by his daughter Yeshim Iqbal. The book covers the story of a boy named Ibu in the Liberation War. The main character (Rashed) who initially calls himself Laddu, after many complications is named by his teacher. Compared to his school friends he is very conscious about the Liberation movement. One day, after the Pakistani army attacks the town, Rashed witnesses the battle. He and his friends help the Mukti Bahini and he gradually gets involved with the war and is consequently martyred.

‘The Mercenary' is an English translation of ‘Kobej Lethel' (1993) by Moinul Ahsan Saber, translated by Shabnam Nadiya. Born on 26^th of May 1958, Saber is a Bangladeshi fiction writer. His book ‘The Mercenary' revolves around the story of an eponymous character named Kobej Lethel and his witnessing of the killing and the deadly violence which shapes him and which he can not escape.

One more novel which draws on the same lines is ‘The Search', an English translation of Shaheen Akhtar's second novel ‘Talaash', by Illa Dutta. This story is a vivid depiction of the impact of war on women. It displays through Mariam, the helplessness, pain, hurt, trauma which women undergo during the time of crisis. It is a heart wrenching story set against the backdrop of the Liberation War of 1971.

Objectives:

            The aim of this research is to study the select works of Bangladeshi writers, set against the backdrop of the Liberation War of 1971. And to tackle the following research questions:

How has the Liberation War of 1971 been depicted in the contemporary Bangladeshi fiction?

How has the Liberation War of 1971 contributed  into the post-war disillusionment and trauma?

What role did women play in Freedom struggle of Bangladesh?

How does the contemporary fiction witness this war as a grand celebration on the body of Bangladeshi women?

Methodology:

               

                The methodology to be followed in this proposed research will be qualitative in nature. A deep critical study of the primary and the relevant secondary material available on the writers and their select works will be done in order to serve the purpose of this work.

Tentaive Chapterization:

Tentative Title:

Projecting Ambiance Of The Liberation War Of Bangladesh Through The             Select Contemporary Fiction: A Critical Study

Introduction:

Before becoming an independent nation, Bangladesh was a part of British-India known as Bengal. With the partition British-India and the formation of Pakistan in 1947, Bengal was divided into East-Bengal and West-Bengal on the basis of religion. East-Bengal, with its Muslim majority was formed into East-Pakistan and West-Bengal with its Hindu majority remained with India. It was only after the rise of Bengali nationalist and free determination movement in what was then East-Pakistan in 1971 and the consequent Liberation War that the present day Independent People’s Republic Of Bangladesh came into existence. According to Indian and Bangladeshi sources this war devoured up to 3 million lives and displaced 30 million people internally. However, the other side has denied the no’s as a hyperbolic statement. The war began due the Operation Searchlight launched by the Pakistani Military Junta against the people of East-Pakistan on the night of 25^th March 1971, resulting into a nine-month long war which ended only after “the Instrument Of Surrender” signed by Gen. A.A.K Niazi on 16^th of Dec. 1971.

We Know that there is no good-war, doesn’t matter whatever the circumstances, a war can never be justified. Every war is accompanied by the horrors, the loss of lives, trauma, rape, bloodshed. In war everything is reduced either to an enemy or to a target. Similarly The Liberation War of 1971 has left a scathing memory, a good number of lives lost, a huge bloodshed. When any country is undergoing an unprecedented war in its history, its people won’t sing of flowers or count the beauty of stars, rather what they do is witness the horrors and their everything gets reshaped and redirected under circumstances.

Apart from other things the most affected area by war is the literature of the soil. Similarly, Bangladesh’s literature has noted a deep impression of its War of Independence. Much has been written about it in the regional language of Bangladesh. But still the world is yet to know the severity of its trauma, with all its intricacies and ambiguities; because most of such narratives are not available to the outside world in any major language, especially English.

The genesis of Bangladeshi novel lie deep in the Bengali novel, about which Ananda Sanker and Lila Ray write, “When the novel was introduced in Bengali in the middle of the 19^th century, the form itself was new, the prose in which it was written was new, the secular tone was new in a country hitherto wholly dominated by religion, and the society in which and for which it was written was new”.(P.168) But after the novelists like Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Manik Bandopadhyay, Tarashankar Bandopadhyay, sarat Chandra Chattopahyay leapt on the stage, the newly introduced genre was developed with such dexterity that soon it became ‘mature’. But all these literary activities took place in Calcutta. The literature of Bangladesh fell almost 50 years behind the Bengali novels. It flourished only later with notable success. Initially Bangladeshi novels were dominated by the religious themes but later on attention was paid to the real Bangali life. But with the advent of Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971, a great number of novels depicting its horrors and the post-war disillusionment followed. Among others Anwar Pasha, Shaukat Osman, Selina Hossain, Mahmudul Haq, Anisul Haque, Syed shmasul Haq, Humayun Ahmad, Rashid Haider, Harun Habib, Rabiya khatun are the notable names with this theme.

The aim of the present work is to deal with such (select) contemporary novels written or translated into English language, and to analyze the ambiance of the Liberation war of Bangladesh in them. One such novelist is Anisul hoque, born on 4^th March 1965 in Rangpur. This Bangladeshi author, screenwriter, novelist, dramatist and journalist has witnessed so beautifully the pain and trauma of Liberation war in his writings in general and in his novel Maa(2003) in particular. An English translation of this novel titled ‘Freedom’s Mother’ was published by Palimpsest from New Delhi in 2012. Magfar Ahmed Chowdhury, aka Azad and his mother Shafia Begum mirror the brutality of the war. He is caught up by Pakistan army on 29^th Aug 1971, and tortured brutally and martyred. His mother Shafia carries on searching for him, but his dead body is never found. The Indian Express noted the release of its English translation and described the book as, “Set against the backdrop of the Bangladesh war, it is a compelling story of love and betrayal and the human cost of conflict.”

Another novel ‘A Golden Age, 2007’ is a debut novel by a Bangladeshi born British writer Tahmima Anam (born 08 Oct 1975). It tells the story of same war through the eyes of one family. Rehana haque, the protagonist of the novel, loses the custody of her children and their involvement in the war after her husband’s death. Her son joins the Mukti Bahini and her daughter reports from the Calcutta. This is the story of a mother who is pulverized between the love of her children and her allegiance to the freedom struggle of her nation.

‘Rashed, My Friend’ is the English translation of ‘Amer Bondhu Rashed’ by Mohammad Zafar Iqbal translated by his daughter Yeshim Iqbal. The book covers the story of a boy named Ibu in the Liberation War. The main character (Rashed) who initially calls himself Laddu, after many complications is named by his teacher. Compared to his school friends he is conscious about the Liberation movement. One day, after the Pakistani army attacks the town, Rashed witnesses the battle. He and his friends help the Mukti Bahini and he gradually gets involved with the war and is consequently martyred.

‘The Mercenary’ is an English translation of ‘Kobej Lethel’ (1993) by Moinul Ahsan Saber, translated by Shabnam Nadiya. Born on 26^th of May 1958, Saber is a Bangladeshi fiction writer. His book ‘The Mercenary’ revolves around the story of an eponymous character named Kobej Lethel and his witnessing of the killing and the deadly violence which shapes him and which he can not escape.

One more novel which draws on the lines is ‘The Search’, an English translation of Shaheen Akhtar’s new novel ‘Talaash’, by Illa Dutta. This story is a vivid depiction of the impact of war on women. It displays through Mariam, the helplessness, pain, hurt, trauma which women undergo during the time of crisis. It is a heart wrenching story set against the backdrop of the Liberation War of 1971.

Objectives:

            The aim of this research is to study the select works of Bangladeshi writers, set against the backdrop of the Liberation War of 1971. And to tackle the following research questions:

How has the Liberation War of 1971 been depicted in the contemporary Bangladeshi fiction?

How has the Liberation War of 1971 contributed  into the post-war disillusionment and trauma?

What role did women play in Freedom struggle of Bangladesh?

How does the contemporary fiction witness this war as a grand celebration on the body of Bangladeshi women?

Methodology:

               

                The methodology to be followed in this proposed research will be qualitative in nature. A deep critical study of the primary and the relevant secondary material available on the writers and their select works will be done in order to serve the purpose of this work.

Bibliography:

Anand Sarkar and Lila Ray, Bengali literature, Paschimbanga Bangla Academy Kolkata,2000

Maa(2003), Anisul Haque

The Golden Age, 2007, Tahmima Anam

Rashed My Friend, Mohammad zafar iqbal

Kobej Lethel,1993; Moinul ahsan saber

The Search, 2009; Shaheen Akhter