Shahidul Jahir
Shahidul Jahir (also spelled Zahir) was a Bangladeshi novelist and short story writer. He was reputed for extraordinary prose style and diciton and considered a genuine founder of post-modern fiction in Bangla literature.
Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1953 as Shahidul Huq, he joined the Bangladesh Civil Service in the Administrative cadre in 1981. In 2008, he was appointed as a Secretary in Charge of Ministry of CHT affairs to the Government of Bangladesh. A confirmed bachelor, he lived a quiet and a very simple life. Hardly he agreed for a formal interview for publication.
Shahidul Jahir was one of the most important contemporary writers in Bangladesh. He became interested in magic realism after reading Marquez's works. He was known to some people as the Márquez of Bangladesh, carrying on the legacy of magic-realism with strokes of his own unique surrealist style, deeply imbibing the politics, history and culture of Bangladesh, his own country home in Sirajganj and his place of birth. However, his style also reminds of Syed Waliullah, a modern Bangla fiction author of Western lineage. But he had his own style of labyrinthine narration that would lead his readers to a maze. He relied more on narration than dialogue between characters. His diction was symbolic and mystified. He resorted to colloquialism in order to infuse reality into the context and story-line. The name of his last published story was, "Miracle of Life". Here is an excerpt (translated from Bangla) from his swan song:
In his writing career spreading over more than two decades, Jahir published only three novels and three collections of short stories. Two collections of his selected novels and short stories were published in 2007.
Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1953 as Shahidul Huq, he joined the Bangladesh Civil Service in the Administrative cadre in 1981. In 2008, he was appointed as a Secretary in Charge of Ministry of CHT affairs to the Government of Bangladesh. A confirmed bachelor, he lived a quiet and a very simple life. Hardly he agreed for a formal interview for publication.
Shahidul Jahir was one of the most important contemporary writers in Bangladesh. He became interested in magic realism after reading Marquez's works. He was known to some people as the Márquez of Bangladesh, carrying on the legacy of magic-realism with strokes of his own unique surrealist style, deeply imbibing the politics, history and culture of Bangladesh, his own country home in Sirajganj and his place of birth. However, his style also reminds of Syed Waliullah, a modern Bangla fiction author of Western lineage. But he had his own style of labyrinthine narration that would lead his readers to a maze. He relied more on narration than dialogue between characters. His diction was symbolic and mystified. He resorted to colloquialism in order to infuse reality into the context and story-line. The name of his last published story was, "Miracle of Life". Here is an excerpt (translated from Bangla) from his swan song:
"An adolescent girl, or a young girl, or who is just a gal...whatever, what do we do with her? She can have a name, since she is a human being, and human beings do have names, so her name could be Pari, Banu, or Ayesha... ...If she stands at the edge of the dirty drains, standing inside her home, as broke as the ragged nest of a magpie (babui), her mother runs around...her mother goes around cooking for others, she cooks rice, she cooks curries,she makes chapatis, there are people who swallow them, or maybe they rebuke her, What the hell have you cooked,woman!... ...Perhaps at that moment, Pari or Pari Banu, is standing at the rail ways of Dayaganj or Shamibag, holding the hands of her little sister or brother, and their father runs around, he too goes to places, maybe he does things, pulls someone else's rickshaw, pushes someone else's cart, or maybe he does nothing, he just lies down on his bed and suffers from piles. Then, what do we do with this Pari? The leader, or the official of this republic, the officers, or the civil society - none of them know...We have no idea what to do with her..."
In his writing career spreading over more than two decades, Jahir published only three novels and three collections of short stories. Two collections of his selected novels and short stories were published in 2007.
