The renowned authors of the country have emphasized on writing Bangla novels highlighting the local people, time and place instead of writing in the western perspective.
They were speaking at a discussion event on the third day of the Dhaka Lit Fest (DLF) on Saturday to present their thoughts on the structure of Bengali literature, new styles.
The topic of discussion is named after Indian Bengali writer Devesh Roy's book “In Search of New Kind of Novel”.
Writers Anisul Haque, Shaheen Akhtar, Mohit Kamal, Zakir Talukder and Prashant Mridha joined the discussion. The discussion was moderated by writer Parvez Hossain.
According to them, literature should be spatial. Readers should also be able to understand what the author understood.
Anisul Haque said that the literature of Bangladesh was not only taken from the West. Manik Bandopadhyay's “Putul Nacher Itikotha” is a great example of Bangali perspective.
Regarding the new type of novel, Anisul Haque said: “The easiest way to write something new is to write with satire. There is nothing to do but make fun of this society.”
Shaheen Akhtar said: “The novel is a very potent medium, and it should not be written from the perspective of the West but from the perspective of this country. Novels can contribute to the formation of society.”
Mohit Kamal said: “The novel of this country should be written to suit this country, yet theoretically inspiration from other literature could be used. The new should be accepted, but it should be like ourselves.”
Zakir Talukder said about the way of seeing something new in the writing, "To bring a new style to the novel, you have to give the right approach to the content.”
At the discussion, Prashant Mridha said: “We must create a new kind of Bengali books together and must incorporate the language of our people into our work. It is necessary to look for new genres of literature and to work more together on the novels that will become ours. A generation has several writers who can express one type of thought in their own unique style. This was the case in Latin literature.”
