Title:
Life and Political Realities: Two Novellas
Author:
Shahidul Zahir
Translated
by: V. Ramaswamy, Shahroza Nahrin
Publisher:
Harper Perennial India
Genre:
Literature, Translated Fiction
Pages:
204
Amazon:
Book to Buy
Life and Political Reality, is a collection of two gripping tales. These novellas are originally written into Bangla by Shahidul Zahir, and the collective efforts of our translators ¬ V. Ramaswamy & Shahroza Nahrin bring them up to the wide range of readers. Basically, the book unfolds the monstrosity of war and its consequences. It sets into Bangladesh, and covers the brutality of Liberation War of 1971.
Long paragraphs, fascinating prose style, and pacy narration, can make you feel restless ¬ all in a right manner. There are multitudes of characters, yet the detailing of scenes, is another aspect which intrigued me the most. It is heartbreaking at places and one needs strength to experience the atrocities dealt by masses.
The original title of the first novella is ‘Jibon o Rajnoitik Bastobota’ – Life and Political Reality. It begins with the haunting visuals, how an abandoned sandal leads to the past memories, where resides the barbarity of war, brutalized – victimized kids, social injustice, religious hatred and dark side of politics. The story revolves around the journey of two pivotal characters, Moulana Bodu and Abdul Mojid. Meanwhile, I encountered to ‘Razakars’, the term I was totally unaware about. Basically, Razakars were an auxiliary force of the Pakistan army during the 1971 Bangladesh War. It is an Arabic word which literally means volunteer. On the other hand, in Bangladesh, they take it as a traitor. That’s what my bit of research says. Whereas, the first part was gut-wrenching, the second half of the book felt light-hearted read. Abu Ibrahim’s Death reminisces the meaning of relocation. It explores many facets of human-psyche.
If
you would like to explore history of Bangladesh and their literature, it can definitely
be your pick. Recommended!
What Blurb Says
Born in 1953 in Old Dhaka, Shahidul Zahir died young and published only six works in his lifetime — but these are some of the most unique and powerful works of fiction to have come out of the subcontinent. With his own particular blend of surrealism, folklore, oral storytelling traditions, magic realism, a searing understanding of social and political reality, and rare clarity of vision, he forged a truly extraordinary voice.
Life
and Political Reality is the work that established his reputation and
granted him cult status in Bangladesh. It examines the 1971 war and its
aftermath — a treatise on liberation, and the destruction of the idealism and
spirit of post-war Bangladesh, told in a single corrosive,
stream-of-consciousness paragraph. Abu Ibrahim’s Death is a quieter
companion novella, and one that is equally concerned with idealism and
compromise, as it studies with deep empathy and nuance the fall of its titular
protagonist.
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