Life And Political Reality

Book excerpt: Haunting and apocalyptic ... a literature of the future - SIDDHARTHA DEB Arresting ... they amplify our sense of what fiction can do - AMIT CHAUDHURI In these novellas the political is the personal is the intimate is the lyrical is the ironic is the universal ... Unforgettable - JERRY PINTO Born in 1953 in Old Dhaka, Shahidul Zahir published only six works in his short life - but these are some of the most unique and powerful works of fiction to have come out of the subcontinent. With his own particular blend of surrealism, folklore, oral storytelling traditions, magic realism, a searing understanding of social and political reality, and rare clarity of vision, he created a truly extraordinary oeuvre. Life and Political Reality is the work that established his reputation and granted him cult status in Bangladesh. It examines the 1971 war and its aftermath; a treatise on liberation, and the destruction of the idealism and spirit of post-war Bangladesh, told in a single, corrosive, stream-of-consciousness paragraph. Abu Ibrahim's Death is a quieter companion novella, but one that is equally concerned with idealism and compromise, as it studies with deep empathy and nuance the fall of its titular protagonist. Together, these two novellas make for a superb introduction to a truly brilliant shooting star in the literary firmament of Bangladesh and the world.