“A people which oppresses other peoples cannot itself be free. The strength it needs to suppress another people in the long run turns against it.”—Friedrich Engels
Two years back I came across Kajal Bandyopadhyay’s book of essays, Katha Kalantorer, Pragatir which enlightened me in many ways since all the essays of the collection dealt in some way or the other with progressive ideas of literature. By the same token, his Pragatisahitya: Katipoy Tattwobichar (Progressive Literature: Evaluation of Some Theories) significantly extends the discussion about different aspects of progressive literature.
Before we delve into the book, let me say a few words about the author. Kajal Bandyopadhyay, a professor of English at the University of Dhaka, is a Bangladeshi poet, essayist, translator, and critic. In his literary works, he invariably provides readers with some substantial food for thought.
Indeed, the book contains essays on Buddhadeva Bose’s connection to progressive literature, Jatin Sarker’s contribution to our culture, Karl Marx and his literary works, African literature, Langston Hughes and his revolutionary works, and so on. Kajal Bandyopadhyay, as an essayist, attempts to analyze most of the aforementioned topics from Marxist viewpoints. Consequently, his essays speak of establishing a plural and classless society. They also unveil religious orthodoxy and fanaticism, and bring out the causes of cultural imperialism. As a critic, he questions the restrictive sides of Theory-Discourse in some of his essays. His analytical bent of mind, evidently, is greatly influenced by Marx’s ideas on arts and literature.
The book begins with an essay shedding light on the problems and possibilities of intellectual practices in Bangladesh. In it Prof Bandyopadhyay seeks to find out the reasons why we have failed to put aside religion from all state functions, even though we waged a war against a religion-based state in 1971. He makes it clear by mentioning that both the 1952 Language Movement and the 1971 Liberation War helped us realize the pitfalls of a religion-based state. He also laments that even after half a century of our independence, many of our writers, intellectuals, poets, and artists have failed to come out of the cocoon of communalism and religious conservatism. He strongly believes that until or unless religion is removed from all state functions, no progress toward a secular Bangladesh can be achieved.
The second essay of the book critically analyzes how a group of people in Bangladesh have been trying for a long time to undermine the progressive thoughts of Buddhadeva Bose, one of the most influential Bengali poets and littérateurs. Bandyopadhyay objects that people who have been trying to prove Bose as a communal thinker have explained Bose’s works partly, in some cases, willingly deconstructing many of his ideas. Prof Bandyopadhyay comes up with some apt references to refute the accusations brought against Bose.
Then he moves on to Jatin Sarker and his book, Pakistaner Janmo, Mrityo, Darshan (The Philosophy of Pakistan’s Birth and Death). The essayist compares Professor Sarker’s contributions to our culture, literature, and state with those of Ranesh Dasgupta, one of the most influential Marxist activists, writers, and thinkers of our country. However, he clearly opposes some of Sarker’s ideas, though he mentions several times that Professor Jatin is one of the best thinkers in Bangladesh he has ever encountered.
Needless to say, the essay on Karl Marx and his literary works dishes out many interesting and lesser known facts. The write-up informs that Marx presented a rough notebook entitled A Book of Verse to his father, comprising a part of a poetic play, Oulanem, and some parts of his humoristic novel, Scorpion and Felix. Reading the notebook his father responded that a writer must have a wide range of social responsibilities. It arouses curiosity in readers when Bandyopadhyay also tells us that Marx stopped writing fiction and poetry after his father’s comment.
The essay on African Literature takes a personal turn, elaborating upon how Prof Bandyopadhyay is deeply indebted to African Literature and why it attracts him much more than Eurocentric literature.
The essay on Victor Hugo and his Les Misérables captures how Hugo started his anthropological journey, though his life began amid a lot of theological contradictions and religious superstitions. Many critics termed Hugo a peace loving revolutionary. The ideas of Hugo can perhaps be summed up in a sentence: it needs freedom to bring peace and it needs revolution for freedom.
The essay on Gramsci illuminates us through an analysis of what should be the proper role of intellectuals. In this connection, Gramsci said: “The mode of being of the new intellectuals can no longer consist in eloquence, which is an exterior and momentary mover of feelings and passions, but in active participation in practical life as constructor, organizer, permanent pursuader and not just a simple orator.” (Selections from Prison Notebooks. p10. 1986) If Lenin stressed the importance of political leadership of the working class, Gramsci went a bit further by also emphasizing moral and intellectual leadership and the importance of non-economic relations between classes. Considering the multifarious roles of Gramsci, Prof Bandyopadhyay says that as an intellectual, thinker, and activist Gramsci’s name can undoubtedly be placed just after Marx, Engles, and Lenin. He also comments that the intellectuals isolated from common people are not intellectuals at all.
The last essay on Nigerian playwright and poet, Wole Soyinka, shows us how Soyinka tried to protect his own cultural practices and how he prioritized localness over Eurocentric ideas on Africa’s cultural traditions.
In addition, the book has essays on Jacques Derrida, Somen Chanda, Joseph Conrad, and Shahidullah Kaiser, as well as on war, peace and contemporary poetry. Broadly speaking, the essays make us confront the contradictions and superstitions in our thoughts, and also talk about the delusions of fundamentalism, capitalism, and the nature of religion-based culture and state. They convey a clear message of Marxist ideas on a classless and plural society. They will also help one learn how revolution and freedom go hand in hand.
Tusar Talukder is Assistant Professor of English at Central Women’s University (CWU). He can be reached at tusar.talukder@gmail.com