Bangladeshi English literature (BEL) refers to the body of literary work written in the English language in Bangladesh and the Bangladeshi diaspora. In academia, it is also now referred to as Bangladeshi Writing in English (BWE). Early prominent Bengali writers in English include Ram Mohan Roy, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Begum Rokeya, and Rabindranath Tagore. In 1905, Begum Rokeya (1880–1932) wrote Sultana's Dream, one of the earliest examples of feminist science fiction. Modern writers of the Bangladeshi diaspora include, among others, Tahmima Anam, Neamat Imam, Monica Ali, Zia Haider Rahman and Rashid Askari.
Writers and their contributions (1774–2024) Writer Major ContributionsThomas Babington Macaulay (25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859), British historian. Primarily responsible for the introduction of a Western-style education system in India.Minute on Indian Education (1835)Kashiprasad GhoshThe Shair and Other Poems (1830)Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1774–1833)Critical essays during his lifetimeMichael Madhusudan Dutt (1824–1873)The Captive Ladie and Visions of the Past, both published in 1849.Toru Dutt (1855–1876)Wrote and translated poetry into English. A Sheaf Glean'd in French Fields and Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan were published in 1876 and 1882 respectively.Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (1838–1894)Debut English novel Rajmohan's Wife (1864)Begum Rokeya (1880–1932)Sultana's Dream (1905)Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941)English translation of the poet's self-work, Gitanjali, to Song Offerings (1912)Nirad C. Chaudhuri (1897–1999)English writer of Bengal stories and autobiographyRazia Khan (1936–2011)Poetry collections Argus Under Anaesthesia (1976) and Cruel April (1977)Farida Majid (1942–2021)Anthology of English poems Thursday Evening Anthology (1977)Kaiser HaqBlack Orchid (1996) and In the Streets of Dhaka: Collected poems (1966—2006).Feroz Ahmed-ud-dinHandful of Dust (1975)Nuzhat Amin MannanRhododendron Lane (2004)Syed Najmuddin HashimHopefully the Pomegranate (2007)Rumana SiddiqueFive Faces of Eve: Poems (2007)Nadeem RahmanPolitically Incorrect Poems (2004)Mir Mahfuz AliMidnight, Dhaka, collection of poems (2007)Rafeed Elahi Chowdhury"My Acid Romance" (2022), "Moho" (2023), "Fayez Just Became a Father"(2023), and "Rules of Eternity" (2023)Adib KhanNovels Seasonal Adjustments (1994), Solitude of Illusions (1996), The Storyteller (2000), Homecoming (2005), and Spiral Road (2007)Monica AliBrick Lane (2003)Tahmima AnamA Golden Age (2007), The Good Muslim (2012), The Bones of Grace (2016)Shazia OmarFirst novel, Like a Diamond in the Sky (2009)Mahmud RahmanShort story collection: Killing the Water (2010)Kazi Anis AhmedCollection: Good Night, Mr. Kissinger and Other Stories (2012)Neamat ImamThe Black Coat (2013)Farah GhuznaviShort story collection: Fragments of Riversong (2013)Maria ChaudhuriBeloved Strangers (2014)Fayeza HasanatShort story collection: The Bird Catcher and Other Stories (2018)Zia Haider RahmanIn the Light of What We Know (2014)Razia Sultana KhanThe Good Wife and Other Tales of Seduction (2007)Rashid AskariNineteen Seventy One and Other Stories (2011)Saad Z. HossainDjinn City (2017)Arif AnwarThe Storm (2018)Mehrab Masayeed HabibSlice of Paradise (2019)Mahtab BangaleeBehold (2022)Sanya RushdiHospital (2023)Saroar Imran MahmoodTears and Poems (2023)Priyanka TaslimThe Love Match (2023)Tanwi Nandini IslamBright Lines (2015)
Emergence of English in the Bangla Region (1774–1855) The emergence of English-based literature in the Indian subcontinent is intertwined with the advent of the British Raj, with some of the important early examples being the critical essays of Raja Ram Muhan Roy, Thomas Babington Macaulay's educational work including the Minutes on Indian Education, and the establishment of Hindu College.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1774–1833)
Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1774–1833) is a foundational figure in Bangla literature. He is remembered for his social reforms, but he also contributed to the spread of English by establishing it as a medium of education and as the first moral essayist of BEL. Ram Mohan Roy was important for motivating the British Raj to establish Hindu college and introducing English as a medium of instruction. Chakraborty states that:
To solve this, Ram Mohan Roy aided the native gentry as well as the government to establish a formal institution for teaching secular ideologies, rather than Indian metaphysics and mythology.
Rashid Askari wrote that "Raja Ram Mohan Roy ..., the father of the Bengali Renaissance, was also the 'father of Indian literature in English'". Askari further notes that "[h]e was the pioneer of a literary trend that has extended over a vast area of the subcontinent, including Bangladesh". While in Rangpur, Ram Mohan took an interest in political developments in England and Europe. He read all the journals and newspapers that Digby got from England, and thereby not only improved his knowledge of English, which he had started to learn at the age of twenty-two, but also acquired considerable knowledge of European political thought.
Ghose has made a thorough discussion on the English work of Ram Mohan Roy. The following lists sketch the man's effort for social and political reforms from the perspectives of liberalism. The emergence of Ram Muhan Roy, the establishment of the Hindu College, and Macaulay's Minutes helped the emergence of English in the Bengal region. At this point, English literature writing in the Bangla region became much more accessible and common.
1830–1976 The year 1830–1976 is characterized by the works of pioneering writers who wrote about traditional Bengali cultural sensibilities with the intellectual literary influences brought about by British colonial rule. Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824–1873) is one of the most famous figures from this period and is often regarded as the first significant poet to write in English in Bengal. Though best known for his Bengali works, including Meghnadh Badh Kavya (The Slaying of Meghnadh), Dutt's contributions to English poetry, including his poetry collection Poems, marked him as a leading figure of this early literary phase.
As a teacher at Hindu College in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (1809–1831) emphasized the importance of Western ideas like rationalism and humanism. His poetry reflects these influences and addresses themes of love, patriotism, and the questioning of tradition. Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) wrote Gitanjali (Song Offerings), winning him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. Kazi Nazrul Islam's (1899–1976) works often hark back to the influences of the 19th century. He wrote about radicalism, anti-colonial themes, as well as his exploration of Bengali cultural identity.
Contemporary scene (2000–2022) Contemporary Bangladeshi English writers write about the details of transnationalism, the Liberation War, political disharmony, massive unplanned urbanization, and identity issues. The contemporary Bangladeshi English writers who represent the young generations are either English-medium students living in Bangladesh or diaspora generations who are living abroad and feel the urge to express. These specified characteristic writers have a few things in common in that the Liberation War, political ups and downs, transnational experience, and massive urbanization serve as the background for their writings. The writings of Tahamina Anam, Monica Ali, etc. are rooted in the theme of the Liberation War of Bangladesh and transnational identity searching with the backdrop of multi-nationality.
A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam is set during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. Anam is also the author of The Good Muslim. Zia Haider Rahman, a British Bangladeshi novelist, published his debut novel In the Light of What We Know in 2014,Wood, James (19 May 2014), "The World As We Know It: Zia Haider Rahman's dazzling début",The New Yorker. Retrieved on 2015-01-20. which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for literature in 2015. Monica Ali's Brick Lane was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2003. Published in the US in 2018, Fayeza Hasanat's debut short story collection The Bird Catcher and Other Stories addresses gender expectations, familial love, and questions of identity and belonging. Like A Diamond in the Sky by Shazia Omar portrays the psychedelic world of Dhaka's university students, who are caught up in the haze of drugs, punk rock, and fusion. Rashid Askari's short story collection Nineteen Seventy One and Other Stories (2011) has been translated into French and Hindi. In 2019, Mehrab Masayeed Habib wrote a novel named Slice of Paradise. It is an English novel based on Dhaka in the 1960s and published by Swore O Publication. The Merman's Prayer and Other Stories by Syed Manzoorul Islam wrote stories that are a mix of reality and fantasy.
Native Bangladeshi contributions
Fakrul Alam
Fakrul Alam (born July 20, 1951) is a scholar, writer, and translator. He writes on literary and postcolonial issues and has translated works by Jibanananda Das and Rabindranath Tagore into English. He has also translated Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's autobiographical works Asamapta Atmajibani (The Unfinished Memoirs) and Karagarer Rojnamcha (Prison Diaries), and Mir Mossaraf Hossain's epic novel Bishad-Sindhu (Ocean of Sorrow). In 2012, he was the recipient of the Bangla Academy Literary Award in translation and the SAARC Literary Award.
Notable works include: Jibanananda Das: Selected Poems with an Introduction, Chronology, and Glossary Ocean of Sorrow Essential Tagore The Unfinished Memoirs Prison Diaries
Kaiser Hamidul Haq
Kaiser Haq has contributed to the fields of poetry, translation of the poems of Shamsur Rahman, the leading poet of Bangladesh, and also prose translation. His works include: Poetry Serial no.BookPublication history01Starting Lines: Poems 1968–75Dhaka: Liberty, 197802A Little Ado: Poems 1976–77Dhaka: Granthabithi, 197803A Happy FarewellDhaka: University Press Limited, 199404Black OrchidLondon: Aark Arts, 199605The Logopathic Reviewer's SongDhaka: University Press Limited and London: Aark Arts, 200206Selected Poems of Shamsur Rahman (translations)Dhaka: BRAC 1985; enlarged edition, Pathak Samabesh, 200707Contemporary Indian Poetry (editor)Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1990 Prose translations08Quartet (Rabindranath Tagore's Chaturanga)Oxford: Heinemann 1993, also in Tagore Omnibus Vol. I, Penguin India 200509The Wonders of Vilayet (an 18th-century Indian's travel memoir)Leeds: Peepal Tree Press, 2002
Niaz Zaman
Niaz Zaman is a writer, translator, and academic. She was honored with the Bangla Academy Literary Award in 2016 for her contribution to translation. Trees without Roots is a novel written by Syed Waliullah, Niaz Zaman, and Serajul Islam Choudhury that is grounded on Syed Waliullah's novel Laal Shalu. Trees without Roots depicts the natural scenery of Bangladesh, including the ravages of nature: floods and storms. She also shows the use of religion for food and shelter by the people.
Sabiha Haq Sabiha Haq (born January 1, 1977) has garnered a reputation for postcolonial and gender issues, women's writings, and cultural studies. The Mughal Aviary highlights the literary contributions of four Muslim women in the Mughal regime in pre-modern India: Gulbadan, Jahanara, Zeb-un-Nessa, and Habba Khatoon, the Nightingale of Kashmir. This book covers roughly 200 years of the 16th and 17th centuries, reflecting the subjective tone and the self-fashioning of the princess under the Mughal regime through the forms of biography, hagiography, and poetry by the four Zenana writers.