Bangladesh: Writings on 1971, Across Borders Edited by Rakhshanda Jalil and Debjani Sengupta. Orient BlackSwan. Pages 276. Rs 875
Book Title: Bangladesh: Writings on 1971, Across Borders
Author: Rakhshanda Jalil and Debjani Sengupta
THREE partitions across six decades — first in 1905, then 1947 and final assertion of a proud identity in 1971. How does that affect a region, its people, culture and ethos? ‘Bangladesh: Writings on 1971, Across Borders’ is Rakhshanda Jalil and Debjani Sengupta’s attempt to answer.
It probes the intersection of literature and history through events that led to the creation of the new nation. The anthology includes essays, fiction and poetry, bringing together a gamut of writers from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh — literary writings from the latter introducing readers to varied understanding of and responses to 1971.
The book is also an attempt to look back and make sense of all the madness and mayhem that took the world by surprise. Some of these writers experienced Partition(s) first-hand; the others have attempted to imagine the great tragedy by way of empathy. While the essays are more recent — two of the three written for this volume — the poems and short stories span five decades, some of them translated into English for the first time. —
