Alternative routes
The book as a whole is a rigorously pursued exercise in the close reading of a fascinating and diverse array of modern texts that aren't quite in the category of the canonical mainstream.
28 April 2023, 18:00 PM
‘FOR YOUR SAKE, O FREEDOM’ 1971 and Bangladeshi poetry
Bangladeshi poetry has always been sensitive to socio-political issues and public themes. In discussing the poetic response to the Liberation War, therefore, it is useful to start with the broad historical background, move on to the literary tradition, and then consider the poetry itself.
25 March 2023, 18:00 PM
HEFTY AT FIFTY: ‘When the Mango Tree Blossomed’ and other short stories from Bangladesh
The centenary of the Father of the Nation, and following on its heels the golden jubilee of the country’s independence, have precipitated a tireless round of celebratory events and an avalanche of varied publications.
15 December 2021, 18:00 PM
1971: Some fragments of memory
For a couple of months after the 1970 elections everything seemed simple and straightforward.
15 December 2021, 18:00 PM
Remembering a literary personality: Farida Majid (1942-2021)
I find two distinct types among denizens of the world of letters. There are writers single-mindedly focused on literary production in one genre or more, and others I would call, for want of a better term, literary personalities.
6 October 2021, 18:00 PM
FEMALE WARRIORS
I had decided to write a brief review of Selima Chowdhury’s book when it was first published, but what with one thing or another making me put it off, a couple of years rolled by, and we found ourselves caught up in a pandemic with no end in sight.
3 September 2021, 18:00 PM
The China wave in literature
At the Hay Dhaka Literary Festival of 2012 the celebrated Indian writer Vikram Seth, after reading some of his fine translations of Chinese poetry, remarked that he found it odd that his fellow South Asians were incurious about the great civilization north of the Himalayas.
18 July 2021, 18:00 PM
MY USELESS WEAPON
As Bird flocks take wing at the rattle of sten guns
23 March 2018, 18:00 PM
SIX SHARED SEASONS
Let us say you dream of a woman,
25 August 2017, 18:00 PM
Partition and Bangladeshi literature
The Partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 has become indissolubly linked to horrific, haunting images of armed gangs or mobs attacking helpless groups of men, women and children trying to cross a border that had just been scratched on the map. Literature registers the shock in works that make harrowing reading.
24 August 2017, 18:00 PM
Ms Bunny Sen
been buggering around this goddamn city
4 August 2017, 18:00 PM
Inheritance
“… they shall inherit the earth.”
16 June 2017, 18:00 PM
Santahar
No, I've never been to Santa Fe.
16 June 2017, 18:00 PM
GRISHMA, BARSHA
The azan goes
9 June 2017, 18:00 PM
Poor Man Eating
Were I a painter
31 March 2017, 18:00 PM
Michael Madhusudan Dutt: A Birthday Tribute
We celebrate Michael Madhusudan Dutt's birthday on 25 January, but we cannot be certain that this is absolutely accurate, just as we
20 January 2017, 18:00 PM
A TRUE MAN OF LETTERS:
Bernard Bergonzi, poet, literary critic and novelist, died on 20 September at the age of 87. He was born in the Southeast London suburb
14 October 2016, 18:00 PM
OH TO BE IN PARIS
It's over half a century since France – its thinkers, writers, artists, film-makers – became an object of fascination with
6 May 2016, 18:00 PM
Can there be a virtual poetry revival?
The amount of poetry on the net is simply staggering. All the great and popular poems we have – or ought to have – read are a mouse click away.
8 May 2015, 18:00 PM