Literature-Critique

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46 Mannan Syed) called him ‘the perfect poet’; this honoring of Jibanananda is not entirely imperfect. Showkat Osman (1917-’98) The narrative style that Saratchandra had introduced in fiction, was advanced by Tarashankar and Manik. Later it found a unique shape in the works from East Bengal. Showkat Osman used the style of Sarat in portraying Bengali Muslim life of the Eastern part of the province. His literary achievement (especially the novel Janani) could be envied by Sarat himself. He took this typical style of fiction to a different height. Showkat’s Janani (Mother) is a great achievement not only of Bangla literature but also of world fiction. Before him, Maxim Gorki, D.H. Lawrence, Manik Bandyopadhay and Mahasweta Devi wrote on the similar theme. But in Showkat’s novel, ‘mother’ has been unprecedentedly glorified. The mother portrayed by Showkat achieves an eternal appeal. A poor mother named Daria Bibi’s lifelong struggle for her children is portrayed in this novel. After her first husband’s death, Daria marries for the second time thinking of her son’s future. However, she is forced to leave him with her inlaws. She gives birth to three more children by her second husband. Her husband, who feels disturbed by cruel poverty, now and then leaves his family and goes out of the village in search of livelihood. She forbears all these manners of her husband. For her children, she sometimes goes against him. Meanwhile, Daria’s distant brother-in-law, who is a lustful man, begins to come to their house now and then. He helps them financially and thus wins their heart. Daria finds him to have ill motive, but allows him thinking of her economic helplessness. Her second husband too dies. Thereafter that shrewd person gratifies her lust for Daria. But thinking of her sons’ survival, she accepts her victimization by him. But more pathetically, the helpless widow becomes pregnant. She does not try to abort the child rather she gives its birth with motherly affection. Therefore thinking of her and her children’s humiliation in the society, she decides to take her own life. Giving the child a farewell kiss, Daria commits suicide. Her death is accompanied by her outpouring love and heartbreaking sorrows for the children. Thus a selfless mother’s life ends in a tragic way. Besides narrating this tale, the writer portrays natural landscape; but nature is always indifferent to man’s weal and woe. Through this grand novel, Showkat draws a picture of eternal Bengali mother. The mother is glorified, and the novel gets its place in world literature with great honor. Kritadasher Hashi (The Laugher of a Slave) is his second most acclaimed novel. It was intended to oppose the martial rule of the then Pakistan. The Bengalis did not have peace while living under the autocratic rule by the Pakistani army. They did not have any pleasure in life. The writer tells us of his anguish against that in a symbolic way. The story is: one night Caliph Harun-ur-Rashid of Baghdad hears a Tatar slave laughing out of joy when making love to his wife. The monarch gets pleased, makes the slave an authoritarian rich man, but makes the slave’s wife his
47 own queen. Thus he deprives the slave of his happiness forever. He orders the slave to laugh, the slave doesn’t and then inhuman torture is befallen on him. But the slave does not abide by the cruel ruler’s command till death. Beneath the surface of this story, Showkat tells us of life’s everlasting aspiration for survival and happiness. He prefers temporal life to an unearthly one, and he emphasizes man’s enjoyment of life. Only thinking of death and afterlife cannot be man’s aim. A life without freedom and pleasure is not a life at all; it is an eternal truth that was denied by our foreign rulers. His other remarkable novels are Boni Adam (The Mankind), Raja Upakhyan (The Tale of a King), Nekre Aranya (Wolves’ Forest) and Patanga Pinjar (Insects’ Cage). Showkat’s novels emphasize humanity and human consciousness of life and the world. His Daria Bibi is a great woman despite her endless poverty and humiliation. His Tatar slave is an adamant rebel against all tyranny and persecution. Showkat’s artistic exposition and glorification of human character takes him to the hall of great humanists. He is a great artist whose works tell of sublime human nature to all-time readers. Syed Waliullah (1922-’71) A sense of morbidity and serene sadness is traced in the art and literature of East Bengal covering the time-span from the 1940s to 80s. It is found in poems, songs, paintings, novels and what not? This melancholic tone is set on country life with natural landscape. It is tinged with a sense of helplessness derived from the cry of pitiless poverty and uncertainty. Zainul Abedin’s paintings and Waliullah’s novels are the best representatives of this artistic archetype. Waliullah is specially known as an existentialist writer. However, this philosophy has few expositions in his first novel Lalshalu (Red Cloth). It rather conveys his reaction to fanaticism and fundamentalism. Majid, a shrewd person from a conservative Muslim family, comes to a village and announces an earth-pile covered by red cloth to be the shrine of a sacred pir (i.e. saint). He achieves some people’s obedience, and some others confront him (including his second wife Jamila), and he seems to overcome all difficulties through his shrewd tactics. It is the story of a religion-monger’s power-hunger, cruelty, ambition for riches and unrestricted lust. The novel is also celebrated for its poetic language. His second novel Chander Amabashya (The Darkness of the Moon) is a good example of existentialist fiction. It tells us the story of a school-teacher who comes close to a murder and does have a dilemma whether he will inform the police or keep it a secret, because he cannot be sure whether it was a murder and if was so, then who committed it. At last he becomes confirm of the crime and finds it his own responsibility to expose it. And doing so, he himself is charged with murder. The world, which is dominated by exploiters and persecutors, always backs its powerful patrons. Even the school-teacher’s local guardians, who simulate as `pious’ persons, are engaged in this hypocritical act. As a result, it is a story of a person’s inner
Page 1 and 2: Bangla Literature: A Critical Overv
Page 3 and 4: 3 By that time, Buddhism was in the
Page 5 and 6: 5 not flourish here. Krittibas’s
Page 7 and 8: 7 Chaitanya’s era as the mystic f
Page 9 and 10: 9 slowly merging. Even after the Ba
Page 11 and 12: 11 ’85) and Piarichand Mitra (181
Page 13 and 14: 13 were two late representatives of
Page 15 and 16: 15 Panju Shah (1851?-1914) and Haso
Page 17 and 18: 17 Panchagram (1943), Hashuli Banke
Page 19 and 20: 19 Lalshalu (1948) achieved worldly
Page 21 and 22: 21 3 Great Bengali Writers Jayadeva
Page 23 and 24: 23 lovers’ pains. According to hi
Page 25 and 26: 25 This poem is a reflection of the
Page 27 and 28: 27 Bengali critics, his supremacy a
Page 29 and 30: 29 love with each other. A Pathan p
Page 31 and 32: 31 found in very few writers of the
Page 33 and 34: 33 catastrophe of another part of t
Page 35 and 36: 35 “Monihara” is the story of M
Page 37 and 38: 37 Saratchandra Chattopadhyay (1876
Page 39 and 40: 39 agitation against the injustice
Page 41 and 42: 41 Bishnu’s world-view is not con
Page 43 and 44: 43 nationalist movement. His moveme
Page 45: 45 Is free of weariness And that is
Page 49 and 50: 49 Michael, Bankim, Dinabandhu, Kal
Page 51 and 52: 51 comprehension of the deep crises
Page 53 and 54: 53 As a fictionist, Elias was a goo
Page 55 and 56: 55 Literature is not for just enter
Page 57: 57 • Sen, Sukumar. Islami Bangla

Literature-Critique

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