Literature-Critique

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Sometimes in this primitive world, he finds the intrusion and aggression of
machine, for example – in “Dredger Baleswar” (“Dredger the Lord of Sands”) of Lok-
Lokantar. In this poem, his final comment on machine is –
“The monster’s clayed belly swallows with fierce anger,
The dredger on the Titas seems a floating iron-sonnet.”
(Translated by the author)
Sonali Kabin is his most famous work. The entitling poem of the book bears
the setting of a bridal night. Here the groom narrates a history of the Bengali people
and their notion of sex to seduce his bride. And in Kaler Kalash, the entitling poem
tells us of a primitive, rather eternal conflict going on in this barbaric world.
In the Modernist era of art, Mahmud drew pictures of a crude and natural
world, which belongs to the modern humans who have brought back lost
primitiveness.
His works uphold a primitive sensation of animalistic carnal behavior. And in
lieu of love, he takes lust to depict the sexual life of an ancient race. “Raktim
Prastab” (“Bloody Proposal”) of Lok-Lokantar is the finest example of this primitive
passion.
Yet his poems are more gothic than romantic; and they create a sense of
bizarre and fantasy in the reader’s mind.
And his poems are entirely secular; they give us the picture of an entirely
earthly life. They are also communal – in the sense that they convey the pictures of
the culture and life-style of a thousand years old community.
Mahmud bore the influence of contemporary Hungry Generation for his poetic
principle. But he elevated their writing standard with a unique and charming diction,
and made their wooden brush of coloring sexual passions into a golden one.
His fundamentalist verses do not have the spontaneity that his earlier secular
poems have. So it can be said the poems of his later life do not possess his heart’s
reflection.
Did he want to fill the void created by the sense of primitiveness and so turned
to religiosity? May be, but that can’t be an acceptable reason for embracing
fundamentalism in any sense, because this act has thrown the poet himself into a
dark and primitive world. Such folly has caused the spiritual death of a highly
promising poet, actually bringing about a shameful tragedy in the history of art and
intellectuality.
Mahmudul Haq (1941-2008)
Mahmudul Haq is famed in Bangla fiction for his poetic language, perfect use
of dialects, true portrayal of life and deep insight of human inner soul. Although he
was shy of publicity and relatively unknown in his lifetime, he will surely achieve a
high position in the realm of fictional literature.
His first novel was Anur Pathshala (Anu’s School) in which his deep insight
into the psyche of childhood, his extraordinary poetic presentation and above all, his