‘Bangladesh: A Literary Journey’: An anthology that takes a stand against cultural elitism

Bangladesh occupies a strange place in global literature today, peculiar rather than exotic. The haughty entitlement of an unshakeable belief in peerless cultural, literary and intellectual heritages setting literary genius as a birthright in stone is offset by the reality of dwindling interest in and practice of the art of literature, widespread anti-intellectualism, and contemporary literature being in the throes of a self-congratulatory celebration of mediocrity that takes sadistic delight in its lack of self-awareness. Added to these contradictions between blind faith and reality, perhaps even because of them, is the status of Bangladeshi literature on the margins of global discourse, feeding off the scraps of a dearth of opportunities, an almost-maybe-ran desperate to avoid being an also-ran before the race has started.

Set against this backdrop, as the state enters its second half-century of independent existence, Rifat Munim’s editorial efforts in the anthology of stories translated from Bengali to English, Bangladesh: A Literary Journey Through 50 Short Stories, is either an audacious act of masochistic lunacy, or a selfless, ambitious attempt to put Bangladeshi literature centre-stage and in the spotlight. It is as much a process of massaging and managing over-inflated egos in a deeply unprofessional environment as it is a literary endeavour....

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