Paving the way for writers

Literary magazines play a leading role in bringing creative minds together as well as connecting the present with the past. In the current English writing scene of Bangladesh, Six Seasons Review, the prestigious literary magazine re-launched during last years' Dhaka Hay, has begun to assume that role. With both budding and promising writers featured prominently, each issue becomes a treat to readers. Edited by Prof Fakrul Alam, the second issue of the magazine offers a rich collection of short fiction, poetry, artwork, and translation of some of the finest writers in Bengali.
The strength of this issue lies in its short stories. Set mostly in Bangladesh, the stories lend a unique richness to this issue by means of their diversity in narrative techniques and style. The story to begin with is 'Karna' by Saad Z Hossain, a tale that revives Karna, the mythical hero fighting to regain his honour lost to a divisive caste system. Although it situates him in a contemporary setting, he takes up his mission to retrieve his Kavacha gifted to him by his father the Sun god. The story retains a mythic air, an energy that propels karna into a pursuit, leaving the ending vague in a way that makes it open to many different interpretations.
'When Our Fathers die' by Fayeza Hasanat is a gripping tale of a daughter's pain mixed with a deep sense of guilt for her dead father, something that comes to surface when she hears the death news of one of her students.
Lopa Mukherjee's 'At a Bus Stand: A One Act Play' is a pleasant read for its curious generic mix of play and short fiction, wherein a man and a woman meet and are drawn to each other through a series of strange and almost absurd events. Rumana Siddique's 'Disjointed' is an arresting tale of unrequited love and subsequent pain, emanating from misunderstanding and guilt. It also brings out the lives of a particular section of the Bangladeshi Diaspora who strive to build a bridge between their American and Bangladeshi identities.
Nuzhat Amin Mannan's 'Keepsakes' is prose written in a poetic vein. She merges fragments of prose with longer poetic pieces in an attempt "to pin down sensations before they would evaporate while flitting between Dhaka and Beijing…."
The translated stories, however, are the biggest achievement of this issue. Stories of Akhtaruzzaman Elias and Narendranath Mitra, the two masters of modern Bengali literature, haven't seen quality translation for a long time. Kaiser Haq and Khademul Islam, two of the leading translators of our time, have taken the initiative and the result undoubtedly is a triumph. Haq's title for Elias' story is "The Fugitive", a deft  re-creation of the latter's dark, grim and haunting world, something bordering almost on the surreal. Haq's translation is effortless with which he moves between the psychological and physical worlds of Elias' characters. The most important aspect of his translation is the way he retains the aura of the original work: Old Dhaka remains what it is in the original with all its smell, misery and mazes. Narendranath Mitra's story 'Shirt' narrates the ignominy and pain of lower-middle class existence in a society where the rich appear to be benevolent but 'do not believe in the humanity of the poor'. Islam aptly translates the world Mitra intends to create, with its ironies, the harsh realities and occasional moments of pure joy.
The reproduced artworks of Shishir Bhattacharjee and SM Sultan add another dimension to this issue. Shishir's highly experimental endeavours are certainly a treat to art aficionados. Sultan's earlier work bears his signature style: men and women portrayed with strong muscles exuding a powerful life force. Considered together, the artworks help to show the change and development of this art form in Bangladesh over time.
The poems featured in this issue also show promise and a great deal of variety. Sudeep Sen's poems bring in issues like the 'otherness' of English as a language and the mystery of a distant past in the form of a locked safe etc. Poems by Batool Sarwar, Samia Ahmed and Seema Amin, among others, are worth reading many times over.
Considering the editorial acumen of Prof Fakrul Alam, it can fairly be assumed that Six Seasons Review is all set to give a solid boost to contemporary English writing in Bangladesh.

Farhana Susmita is lecturer of English at Jagannath University.