Discussion on Munier Chowdhury held at Jahangirnagar University

Students' Union of Bangabandhu Institute of Comparative Literature and Culture of Jahangirnagar University today organised a discussion on the Bangladeshi educationist, playwright, and literary critic Munier Chowdhury, entitled 'Munier Manosh'.

The discussion was held in three sessions at Zahir Raihan Auditorium where around a hundred students joined the seminar. 

In his discussion on Munier Chowdhury and his writings, Professor Mashrur Shahid Hossain of the Department of English at JU hailed Munier Chowdhury as the "pioneer writer" of comparative literature in Bangladesh.

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Shahid said, "Shashanka Mohan Sen is called the architect of Bangla comparative literature because he wrote Bangobani [1915…,] the first Bangla comparative literature piece. Rabindranath Tagore to Syed Ali Ahsan were engaged in comparative criticism. But in Bangladesh or in Bangladeshi literature, Munier Chowdhury wrote the first comprehensive book on the theory and applications of comparative criticism in his collection, Tulonamulok Somalochona [1969]."

Asif Munier, son of martyred intellectual Munier Chowdhury, was the chief discussant of the third session where he reminiscenced memories of his late father and expressed interest in making a documentary on Munier Chowdhury. "It will not be like an autobiography, rather, it will be more of in depth coverage", he said.

He also emphasised the scope of doing more research on Chowdhury's one-act play Kobor (1966) and drama collection Roktakto Prantor (first published in 2018) in the future. 

Sheikh Tajul Islam Taj is the Jahangirnagar University correspondent for The Daily Star.