Every year, around 2,000 new books are published in the Amar Ekushey Book Fair organised by Bangla Academy, a month-long book publishing event that brings together readers from all over Bangladesh to Dhaka. Bangladeshi readers eagerly wait for this event throughout the year, which takes place in February. It is estimated that the sales by the publishers surpass their total yearlong earning multiple times during this one month, and writers plan their creative works around this fair to get published and most importantly, sold.
The sheer number of books which get published during the Ekushey Book Fair may give an onlooker the idea that Bangladesh has a thriving literary legacy, where ripe ideas are blooming and creative writings are flourishing. This is not the case, sadly. In fact, since Bangladesh’s independence some 54 years ago, the country has not produced one single writer who is internationally acclaimed. There have been no international bestsellers, and readers in the west hardly know any Bangladeshi writer on whom they can rely to get a glimpse of this strange, complex nation.
The fact that no one can name any Bangladeshi writer who is internationally acclaimed doesn’t mean that there has not been the birth of any capable writer in Bangladesh. On the contrary, Bangladesh’s literary history is enamoured with many prolific writers, who have made a name for themselves locally. Every learned person in Bangladesh knows about Humayun Ahmed, the writer who is widely regarded as the bestselling Bangladeshi author from a local sense. Then there are some other writers like Shawkat Osman, Syed Waliullah and Akhtaruzzaman Elias, who have dealt with the complex social and political issues of Bangladesh. There are some other not-so-popular but highly capable writers, like Shahidul Zahir, who is known in the Bangladeshi literary circles as the perfect embodiment of magic realism, inspired by Franz Kafka and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. These writers are mostly novelists and short story writers, and Bangladesh’s literary power lies in its poetry, with acclaimed poets like Al Mahmud, Shamsur Rahman, Rudra Mohammad Shahidullah adorning the local bookstores. With so many renowned novelists and poets, and many more non-fiction writers who have dealt with more serious topics like Politics and Economy, one is justified to ask why none of these writers have been able to cross the border and make themselves known worldwide?
The answer lies within. When writing, Bangladeshi writers never think of catering to a global audience in the first place. While their topics and themes are highly local, their attitude to their career outlook is also narrow. For example, when Humayun Ahmed was writing novels like Modhyanno or Josna o Jononir Golpo, two novels which cover Bangladesh’s history from 1947 to 1971, he never thought that readers in the west might want to learn about this period through his works too, that he should take such an approach so that his writings could answer the questions which both the Bangladeshi and the international readers might have.
Humayun, who was taught in the United States, wrote in plain Bangla, and never tried to use his connections to translate his works and publicise them in the West. This is not a question of quality, this is an outlook that is engraved in the minds of all Bangladeshi writers due to some undeniable, binding circumstances.
Bangladesh is the only nation in the world which has shed blood for language. In 1952, Bangladeshi people came to the streets and stood in front of the Pakistan army demanding recognition for Bangla as the state language, which resulted in some losses of lives. This is why Bangladeshis, especially the country’s writers, feel an obligation to practice literature in the Bangla language, and view English or any other foreign language with suspicion and distrust. Recently I was at a literary discussion where the main discussant, an acclaimed poet and researcher, was saying that those writers who talk about foreign countries through their writings will never be accepted in Bangladesh.
To counter his point, I would borrow the words of another acclaimed writer, Faham Abdus Salam, who has said that the narrow and highly localised mentality that has grown among Bangladeshi writers due to their extreme reverence towards Bangla as a mother language has instilled in them such fear that practice of other languages will be tantamount to a violation of their mother’s honour. Such unrealistic beliefs and tendencies in the 21st century are unacceptable, and disastrous for Bangladeshi literature.
I’m not saying that Bangladeshi writers must stop writing in Bangla and begin writing in English to gain wide readership. What language a writer will use to express his thoughts is totally up to him, no one can dictate on this matter. What I’m saying is that as there are many great literary works gathering dust on the local bookshelves, someone should step up and make them widely available, especially in the west, through translation and other means. What is needed is a shift in mentality of Bangladeshi writers. When writing something, Bangladeshi writers should aim high and craft their writing from such an angle that their works can satisfy the hunger of both local and international readers. Bangladeshi writers should not limit themselves within their own boundary only, they should try to become global voices, who either speak for everybody or make his own country’s matters relevant to those residing outside his territory.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a writer from Colombia who never wrote in English. Colombia is not much significant diplomatically or strategically than Bangladesh, still Marquez won the Nobel Prize and all of his works have become international bestsellers due to their translation in English. Same goes for Orhan Pamuk, another noble laureate whose works are widely available in English although he never wrote a single word in that language. Haruki Murakami wrote in Japanese all his life, yet he is probably the most popular Asian writer in the west due to the translation of his works. The sad reality is that Bangladeshi translators are highly interested in translating English bestsellers into Bangla, but no one seems interested in translating the works of any Bangladeshi writer into English and making them available for the international readers. This is one aspect.
Another, more significant aspect is that Bangladeshi people lack good command over English, and as a result, there is a shortage of people who can write well in this language and also, read English books well. In India, our neighbouring country towards which we often throw dirt on numerous instances, there has long been a tradition of writers and readers who are extremely good at English. For example, Salman Rushdie changed the entire English vocabulary through just one of his books, which was Midnight’s Children. Arundhati Roy was the first Indian to win the Booker Prize for her novel The God of Small Things, also written in English. Another Indian writer, Jhumpa Lahiri, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her novels and short stories, written solely in English. These instances are another example of how to become internationally acclaimed writers, and it is through writing in a language which is accepted and understood everywhere.
I’ve discussed two ways of becoming an internationally bestselling author- either write in your own language and make them public to the global audience through translation or write in English and directly reach the wider readership worldwide. The matter is not that Bangladeshi writers lack quality or no one is interested in learning about Bangladesh. What is really important is how do you frame your mind- do you want your works to resonate with everyone or do you want to limit yourself citing some rigid feelings related to culture, language and inherent political norms? A decision has to be made very soon.
Muhammad A. Bashed is a Dhaka-based journalist.
