Unlike many of the war refugees from Bangladesh in Calcutta, he felt no urge to be involved in the war. He had fled the country to save his life, not to participate in the fight.
Part memoir, part magical realism, this is a story about identity and the idea of home.
Her 1903 piece “Alonkar na badge of slavery” marked the start of Rokeya’s explicitly feminist writing.
Shurjo’s Clan uses magic realism to conjure Shurjomukhi’s freedom fighter uncles, who were martyred in Sylhet’s tea gardens during the 1971 Liberation War, and her grandmother, who took her own life shortly after the 1947 Partition.
"I have lifted from these stories. I’ve stolen from these stories. But you know, I’ve remade the characters so they don’t directly relate to anyone’s biography. But I cannot deny that a lot of the anecdotes, events and arc of the story come from certain family experiences", states Sandeep Ray.
Narratives from the peripheries are needed to balance out the indocentrism of Partition Studies
The impact of the 1947 Partition was felt in every aspect of Dhaka's printing and publishing business, and the book trade in the new provincial capital took a momentous turn. How did it impact the booksellers, printers, and the material being published?
1947 was overtaken almost immediately by the language question, and the question of identity.
There is a plot embedded here, but this novel is so much more: a long, winding journey, centred on a family, with acute eyes on love and distances within a family, but also through language, Partition and imposed borders, and so much more.
Unlike many of the war refugees from Bangladesh in Calcutta, he felt no urge to be involved in the war. He had fled the country to save his life, not to participate in the fight.
Part memoir, part magical realism, this is a story about identity and the idea of home.
Her 1903 piece “Alonkar na badge of slavery” marked the start of Rokeya’s explicitly feminist writing.
Shurjo’s Clan uses magic realism to conjure Shurjomukhi’s freedom fighter uncles, who were martyred in Sylhet’s tea gardens during the 1971 Liberation War, and her grandmother, who took her own life shortly after the 1947 Partition.
"I have lifted from these stories. I’ve stolen from these stories. But you know, I’ve remade the characters so they don’t directly relate to anyone’s biography. But I cannot deny that a lot of the anecdotes, events and arc of the story come from certain family experiences", states Sandeep Ray.
Narratives from the peripheries are needed to balance out the indocentrism of Partition Studies
The impact of the 1947 Partition was felt in every aspect of Dhaka's printing and publishing business, and the book trade in the new provincial capital took a momentous turn. How did it impact the booksellers, printers, and the material being published?
1947 was overtaken almost immediately by the language question, and the question of identity.
There is a plot embedded here, but this novel is so much more: a long, winding journey, centred on a family, with acute eyes on love and distances within a family, but also through language, Partition and imposed borders, and so much more.
On the 75th anniversary of the 1947 Partition, we look back at the testimonies of the veteran politician, Prabhas Chandra Lahiri; the young political activist, Tajuddin Ahmed; and Professor Ahmed Kamal's book comprising research on and stories of the time.