presents
By Shahidul Zahir, Translated by V. Ramaswamy
Praise for Shahidul Zahir
Haunting and apocalyptic … a literature of the future – Siddhartha Deb
Arresting … they amplify our sense of what fiction can do – Amit Chaudhuri
Unforgettable – Jerry Pinto
Short, pithy, compact … unsettling the present and casting a dark shadow on the future – Rakhshanda Jalil, The Wire
A rare gift … Zahir synthesizes hard-hitting social realism with a surge of surrealist paranoia to forge a style that keeps the reader on tenterhooks. – Somak Ghoshal, Mint
Casts a spell that leaves you wide-eyed, like a child listening to stories of faraway places – Dipanjan Sinha, The Hindu
About the Book
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.
A moholla caught in a time warp…
A down-on-their-luck husband and wife who are stalked by ravens…
A magician who sells addictive figs…
A pair of thieving monkeys…
In these pages is the world of the moholla, where rumours and gossip abound and where everyone knows everyone, where seemingly bizarre yet intriguing creations deliver profound commentary on post-independence Bangladesh. Superbly translated by V. Ramaswamy, each of these ten stories takes you beyond the rules of language and storytelling, into a place that is at once achingly familiar and terrifying.
V. Ramaswamy says, ‘I started reading Shahidul Zahir’s stories on a friend’s urging – and was entranced and ensnared from the very first sentence. As I read on, and then finished the next story, I wondered – has anyone ever even thought of writing a story like this! Zahir is no less than one of the great storytellers of the world. A master of prose, who crafted a distinct style, with a unique vision and voice. He writes about the common folk, and their habitat. And he writes about memory and forgetting. His writing brings to mind writers as varied as Isaac Bashevis Singer, RK Narayan, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Jose Saramago, but for me as a translator, his writing is uniquely Bangladeshi. Zahir is an ambassador of the soil of Bangladesh, her people, and their language, in all its verve and pungency. Language is after all the raison d’être of Bangladesh. Equally, Zahir is primarily a political writer, someone who stands outside, and speaks harsh truths, which he delivers like a punch in the face. Perhaps that is why his genius is yet to be fully recognized even in his own country. As someone dedicated to translating voices from the margins in Bangla, I feel humbled to have translated Shahidul Zahir for publication on the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh. I hope that the world of literature will know and celebrate this master, this shooting star in the firmament of literature, as one of its own.’
Rahul Soni, Associate Publisher – Literary, HarperCollins Publishers India, says ‘My introduction to Shahidul Zahir’s work was his short stories, in V. Ramaswamy’s translation (although we ended up publishing his novellas first). And right from the very first sentence I was struck by this truly unique and powerful voice – these stories are like nothing else I’ve read, with their singular blend of surrealism, folklore, oral storytelling traditions, magic realism, and a rare understanding of social and political realities. I knew before I had finished reading a page that I needed to read and publish everything by him. He deserves a place among the greats of world literature – and it will be a travesty if that recognition eludes him even after this brilliant rendering by Ramaswamy, which brings Zahir’s genius with its full force into the English language.’
About the Author
Shahidul Zahir (1953–2008) completed his postgraduation at the University of Dhaka and the American University, Washington, D.C., and joined the civil services in Bangladesh. He is best known for his novella, Jibon O Rajnoitik Bastobota. Shahidul Zahir’s oeuvre includes the short story collections Parapar, Dumurkheko Manush O Onyanno Golpo, and Dolu Nodir Haowa O Onyanno Golpo, the novels Shey Raate Purnima Chhilo and Mukher Dike Dekhi, and the novella Abu Ibrahimer Mrityu.
About the Translator
V. Ramaswamy has translated Subimal Misra’s The Golden Gandhi Statue from America: Early Stories, Wild Animals Prohibited: Stories, Anti-Stories, and This Could Have Become Ramayan Chamar’s Tale: Two Anti-Novels, Manoranjan Byapari’s novel The Runaway Boy, and Memories of Arrival: A Voice from the Margins by Adhir Biswas. His translation of Shahidul Zahir’s Life and Political Reality: Two Novellas was published in 2022.
For further information, please write to sagiri.dixit@harpercollins.co.in
Fiction | Rs 399
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