Dhaka's Little Magazines

Poet Naeem Hasan is steadily acquiring a name for himself by bringing out the quality, if irregular, literary magazine Nirantar. Here it must be mentioned that the volume before this had been notable for the publication of some letters and selections from eleven diaries of the late writer Akhtazuzzaman Ilyas. The diaries ranged from the year 1968 to 1995 and were scrupulously sorted and edited by the writer Shahaduzzaman. The diaries had been kept intermittently, and with its mix of details of daily life (accounts of visits to relatives, bouts of hospitalization towards the end), and the record of a writer's inner life (newspaper items, despondency that our war of liberation had come to naught, poems and quotations from Marx, Huxley, Yeats, the Ramayana, passage of political events, introspective asides) were a fascinating revelation of a deeply humane, cultivated and engaged sensibility.

The present sixth issue, at 428 immaculately-printed pages a hefty tome, came out in February of this year after a considerable hiatus, as underlined by the editor's own admission “This issue of Nirantar has spent most of its time in the birthing room." Reflecting the journal's determination to highlight some of the lesser-known issues and names in Bengali literature/culture, the volume has been dedicated to the Baul-devotee and poet Jalal Khan, with Sudhir Chakraborty contributing the lead article on 'Jalal giti.' There is a substantial article on Qamrul Hasan, as well as essays on various subjects, poems (including previously unpublished ones by Azizul Huq) and three short stories. Of the latter 'Idur-Bilai Khela' by Shahidul Zahir is definitely worth reading.
Price: Taka 100.00.

Gandeeb
Editor Tapan Barua

Each volume of Gandeeb reflects the individuality of its editor Tapan Barua, who begins his foreword with:
This particular issue has two outstanding pieces. The first, labeled tongue-in-cheek as 'Audio-Visual Presentation' by Nurul Alam Atiq, is a selection of carefully and diligently researched pieces from various personal accounts, narratives and histories, along with pictoral representation, of Mogh depredations and Portuguese slave trade in Bengal during the Middle Ages. There is also a list of Bengali loan words from Portuguese, no doubt due to the interaction during this oppressive trade: kajubadam, baranda, cha-biskoot, jua, chabi, mistri, etc.

The second is a short story set in 1971, titled 'Punjabi Punjabi' by the editor himself, which in its stuttering, effective design, time lapses and sudden violence is quite unlike any other story about 1971 that one has read. Other contributions include poems by seven poets, four other short stories and a rather daring play adaptation of a story by Mario Vargas Lhosa.

Price: Taka r50.00.

Lyric
Editor Izaz Yusuf

Lyric is a long-standing little magazine which has earned itself a dedicated following. This issue is dedicated to Akhtaruzzaman Ilyas. It focuses on a subject the younger of Dhaka's literati seems to be inordinately fond of discussing and which has among them both its champions and detractors: postmodernism. As the editor reminds us, it was the 1993 issue of Lyric that first brought postmodernism to the attention of those in the city who follow literary trends and subjects, and this volume is a recap of both the original 1993 papers/articles as well as the various debates and responses that subsequently ensued. This recapping has ensured that the volume does not have a dated air, and the volume does have a certain value in terms of local literary history since quite a few of our leading literary lights took part in the exchange. The sequencing of papers, arguments and counter-arguments has been done carefully and readers can follow the various lines of argument quite clearly.
Price: Taka 150.00.

Mymesingh Jong
Editor Sarkar Aziz

This issue of Mymensingh Jong came out in February of this year. It contains eight prose pieces, six stories and a translation piece. There is a long poem by Ashik Akbar besides works by 14 other poets. The notable thing about Mymensingh Jong is its short story selection, where previously it has given space to some new and unusual works. In this issue too there are some very short stories which tend to be, in theme and language, somewhat different than the ones usually published elsewhere.
Price: Taka 30.00.

Boitha
Editor Shihab Shahriyar

Though this little magazine--evocative of recent political conflicts but in truth as far from it as possible--made its appearance in August of last year it deserves a mention here simply because of its 'Jostna' (full moon nights) theme, and the illustrious group of writers the editor has cajoled into writing pieces for him: Shamsur Rahman, Selina Hossain, Syed Shamsul Huq, Rabiul Husain, Humayun Ahmed, Borhanuddin Khan Jahangir. Bangladesh, or Bengali literature, perhaps has to be the only possible place/site left in our determinedly unsentimental age where its literati can still unashamedly wax lyrical about moonlit nights. One of the few who, however, refuses to do so is Belal Chowdhury, whose dashed-off contribution 'Chondrohoto ek raat ei', about one weird trip out of Kolkata's Coffeehouse environs into the borderless countryside, manages to be both funny and a mini-memoir of some good bohemian times. The editor in his preface had added that all those desirous of reading this volume on the internet can go to www.parbon.com.
Price: Taka 60.00.

Baas
Editor Rabiul Karim

Baas is an irregular, idiosyncratic publication that does not merely proclaim itself in favour of the odd and the experimental--it actually goes ahead and publishes them.. It is not surprising therefore that this issue contains no poems (the editors will probably gleefully claim none were good enough to publish) and contains an interesting mix of short stories and essays. Notable among the short stories is Mahmudul Hossain's 'Michilay na-jawa manushder golpo,' done entirely, a la one of Philip Roth's novels, as a dialogue between speakers.

Price: Taka 30.00

Khademul Islam is literary editor, The Daily Star.