I am a Graduate Teaching Assistant at PhD level in the Department of American Studies, at the University of New Mexico, USA. I was an Assistant Professor in the Department of English, at Green University of Bangladesh before coming to the USA. I have been a student of MA in North American Studies, University of Cologne, Germany. I have a keen interest in American History, Contemporary American Indigenous Literature, Human-Animal Relationship Studies, Anglophone Children's Literature, Shakespeare, and Marxist Literature. I also have a long career in theater. I have two theater groups in Bangladesh. Among my significant works, there are 5 plays of Shakespeare.
This paper attempts to explain the animal poems of Ted Hughes in the light of Deconstruction and ... more This paper attempts to explain the animal poems of Ted Hughes in the light of Deconstruction and Psychoanalysis. The paper first presents the physical description of the violent and sometimes exotic animals in many of his animal poems. The basic aim of the study is to provide enough logic to declare the vicious animals of Ted Hughes are more humans than animals. The theories: Deconstruction and Psychoanalysis will be applied to find out how the the cruelty, the vendetta and the ferociousness of the animals in Hughes' poems go beyond their animal identities. Overall, the article promises food for thought for the readers of Ted Hughes and the English literature learners.
The year 5000 B.C. saw the extinction of the village based culture in some parts of the world and... more The year 5000 B.C. saw the extinction of the village based culture in some parts of the world and then started the city based civilization. Egyptian civilization (5000-525 B.C.) set glorious landmarks into the areas of agriculture, business, architecture, art, culture, religion and science. Especially in temple building and other architectural contributions of the Egyptians made them unique. This glorious civilization of the Pharaohs was taken by the Persians in 525 B.C. Later Egyptians were ruled by the Romans, Greeks, Arabians and Turks. Even in the very modern period it was colonized by the English. In the middle of the 20th century Egypt got its freedom from the foreign powers finally.
As a race Hebrews had mixed characteristics. For the Hittite fusion, Hebrews had long and carved ... more As a race Hebrews had mixed characteristics. For the Hittite fusion, Hebrews had long and carved nose. They were not skilled enough in the matter of warfare, architecture or painting but their religion played unexpectedly a huge role throughout the history of religion in the whole world. There is a doubt in the etymology of their name. A popular saying is that from ‘Khabiru’ or ‘Habiru’ the name ‘Hebrew’ has been originated. Another saying is that from the opposite side of the Euphrates ‘Ever’ or ‘Eber’ the name Hebrew came. Most of the scholars agree that the Hebrew people have been originated from Arab.
The poem ‘An Apple Gathering’ by Christina Rossetti talks about a betrayed love or an unfulfillme... more The poem ‘An Apple Gathering’ by Christina Rossetti talks about a betrayed love or an unfulfillment of love.The condition of a betrayed girl and the harsh treatment on her by the society is vividly pictured in this poem. The poet symbolizes the action of losing chastity or virginity, by the action of plucking ‘pink blossoms’ of an apple tree. After losing her chastity and being betrayed, the speaker faces a dangling condition which is symbolized by her ‘dangling basket’. This condition is also contrasted showing the ‘heaped-up basket’ of the other girls. When she sees other girls not betrayed in love happily singing, smiling, she laments over her ill fate. The use of symbolism to show all these, is really very authentic throughout the whole poem.
Green University Review of Social Sciences (GURSS), 2024
Ernest Hemingway’s literary works present his dualistic impression regarding life itself. Some of... more Ernest Hemingway’s literary works present his dualistic impression regarding life itself. Some of his characters show their eagerness to live a materialistic life and fulfill their desires whereas some others show the pointlessness of living such a life. Unquestionably, Hemingway makes existentialist questions through his characters. However, whether he makes a theistic existentialist question or an atheistic one needs further discussion. Many argue that his works are predominantly ‘nihilistic’ much in the manner of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche and his contemporary atheistic existentialist Jean Paul Sartre. On the contrary, there are occasions when Hemingway’s works reveal the influence of Soren Kierkegaard, Karl Jaspers, and Gabriel Marcel who all belong to the theistic school of existentialism. This paper observes Ernest Hemingway’s two short stories: “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” to trace the dichotomous existentialist perspective reflected in them. First, the paper briefly discusses the two schools of existentialism and the philosophers involved in both. Then, the two selected short stories are analyzed as tools for Hemingway’s philosophical dualism.
Praxis: Journal of the Department of English Rajshahi University, 2023
Daniel Venegas’ The Adventures of Don Chipote is a story about the journey of an unfortunate farm... more Daniel Venegas’ The Adventures of Don Chipote is a story about the journey of an unfortunate farmer Don Chipote who decides to come to the United States crossing the border through El Paso in the 1920s to strike it rich but ends up experiencing rampant racism, abuse, and the allure of leaving his Mexican traditions behind. Despite the presence of an omniscient narrator, the story revolves around a number of perspectives. The third-person narrative shifts not only from one character to another but also to different places and occasionally different periods of time. The sudden addition of the writer’s own experiences as a migrant in the USA which is described in a first-person narrative makes the narrative instrumental in presenting the themes of the novel. Moreover, the direct addressing to the readers which may be seen in the dramas makes the narrative mode of the novel quite unique compared to the contemporary linear coming-of-age adventure stories. Additionally, Daniel Venegas uses many literary techniques such as similes, metaphors, ironies, epithets, hyperboles, alliteration, onomatopoeia, paradox, and the like. This article critically observes the multi-perspective narrative and literary technique and explains how they generate multiple themes such as passion, illusion, responsibility, harsh reality, human behavior, friendship, and ownership in this novel. Drawing upon Russian Formalist aspects such as Roman Jakobson’s ‘literariness’, Viktor Shklovsky’s theory of ‘estrangement’, Mikhail Bakhtin’s ‘heteroglossia’, and Vladimir Propp’s ‘seven archetypes’, this article overall makes a language, structural, and functional appreciation of the novel.
This paper attempts to explain the animal poems of Ted Hughes in the light of Deconstruction and ... more This paper attempts to explain the animal poems of Ted Hughes in the light of Deconstruction and Psychoanalysis. The paper first presents the physical description of the violent and sometimes exotic animals in many of his animal poems and then tries to explore the hermeneutics of them. The basic aim of the study is to provide enough logic to declare that the vicious animals of Ted Hughes are more humans than animals. The theories: Deconstruction and Psychoanalysis will be applied to find out how the cruelty, the vendetta and the ferociousness of the animals in Hughes' poems go beyond their animal identities. Overall, the article promises food for thought for the readers of Ted Hughes and the English literature learners.
Bangladesh Army University of Engineering and Technology (BAUET), Journal, 2020
In George Orwell's well-composed nonfictions through which he voices against the very imperial na... more In George Orwell's well-composed nonfictions through which he voices against the very imperial nature of the British Empire, there is a subtle tone of superior English race while describing Indians or people of the subcontinent. The tone of Orwell while giving the physical description of these people often poses questions towards the noble purposes of his writings. One common feature in his works is the author's contrasting feelings about the Orient and Orientals from the white men's perspective. To justify the arguments two of Orwell's Essays A Hanging and Shooting an Elephant have been chosen. The aim is to revise the two mentioned essays and their common interpretations and at the same time, to unmask the racist approaches hidden beneath the wrapping of kind words. To support the cause, Edward Said's concept of the Orient and the Occident expressed in his Orientalism is used as the theoretical ground. Said has explored the idea of an authoritative construction of Orientalism historically by the imperial powers such as French and British empires and in George Orwell's nonfictions, this 'authoritative construction' of Indians has been subtly presented. Thus, using Edward Said's theory as a counter-argument to George Orwell, the paper would make a postcolonial study of the two mentioned nonfictions.
Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe presents the old self of the hero as the narrator of the story of ... more Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe presents the old self of the hero as the narrator of the story of the younger self making it a fictional autobiographical novel. The moral dimension of the novel is emphasized with Crusoe, the narrator, evaluating and judging the past behavior of Crusoe, the character. The young character Crusoe is intolerant, adventurous and a dreamer whereas the old narrator is an experienced wise man and well-composed personality. But the character develops through a journey within along with the external journey of 28 years and finally morphs into the self of the narrator. The initial hierarchy between the narrator and the character dissolves through the struggles and self-education of the character while living a long solitary life on the island. The paper first discusses how the presence of the voice of the narrator within the text creates the contrast between the two forms, the character and the narrator extracting examples where the narrator proves to be philosophically sound and greatly advanced from the character. Secondly, the paper points out how the character functions within many virtues that reduce and finally eliminate the psychological gap or the hierarchy as the novel progresses. Keywords: Narrator, Character, Contrast, Metamorphosis
Harvest: Jahangirnagar University Studies in Language and Literature, 2019
Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is developed through a philosophical c... more Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is developed through a philosophical contrast between the traveler who is obsessed by the seductive beauty of the woods and the horse which seems to be practical as it understands the danger of giving a sudden pause in such a stark spatial situation. The traveler seems to have a romantic desire to be lost in nature and the horse is a realistic thinker. The success of the horse in making the traveler change his mind may be seen as the succession of realism from transcendentalism. The stopping of the traveler amidst ‘sublime’ nature resembles Emersonian consideration of transcendentalist nature, and the decision to leave the place of woods and snowfall by the end of the poem may be associated with both the denial of transcendentalism and the acceptance of realism. Acknowledging the transition of America from Puritanism to Transcendentalism, the paper places American realism expressed by Frost in the current poem as a synthesis of the two former philosophical genres. First of all, the paper explains the transition of America from Puritanism to transcendentalism and successive realism elaborating the contrast among the three philosophical genres. Then, the paper discovers an Emersonian urge in the traveler of Frost and explains how the urge has been denied. Finally, the realistic realization of the traveler is associated with the development of American Realism. Overall, the paper intends to show the poem as an example of the philosophical transition in America from Emerson to Frost. Keywords: Emerson, transcendentalism, realism, obsession, sublime, disillusionment
Keats’ Sufi Speaker Jumps Back to Reality: An Evaluation of “Ode to Nightingale”, Jul 7, 2022
Sufism predates Romanticism by over 900 years and has an arresting similarity with British Romant... more Sufism predates Romanticism by over 900 years and has an arresting similarity with British Romanticism and American transcendentalism. The faith in an immortal afterlife, the consideration of death as a gateway to eternity, and the belief in the unity of the creator and the creation make the two philosophical genres very close to each other. John Keats, being one of the greatest British romantic poets, has shown numerous occasions where he puts death in a hierarchic position over life, and also describes elements that have eternal nature. Sufism too searches for a greater mystic regardless of the pain and pleasure of the material world. Keats’ “Ode to Nightingale” presents the poet himself having an obsession with the spiritual world of the nightingale but his wish is countered by the sudden return to reality. Hence, through a Sufi evaluation of the ode, the hasty transformation of the poet may be explored. First of all, the definition, origin, and overall practices of Sufism are briefly discussed. Also, how Sufism concurs with other philosophical developments, especially in Europe is also highlighted. Finally, a close observation of the poem is made through which the dilemma between Keats’ Sufi and realistic double consciousness is explored.
Dakota writer Elizabeth Cook-Lynn’s memoir In Defense of Loose Translations: An Indian Life in an... more Dakota writer Elizabeth Cook-Lynn’s memoir In Defense of Loose Translations: An Indian Life in an Academic World is an excellent resource for those who are fairly new to Native/Indigenous studies (e.g., researchers coming from outside of the Americas and Europe) and want to understand the basic concerns of Indigenous scholarship. American historiography demonstrates “a process of collective memory erasure”1 that denies the presence of the Native nations. It is truly impossible to appreciate the scholarship on Indigenous nations and their histories of ongoing colonial oppressions, historical wrongdoings for centuries, without looking into the works of Cook-Lynn and conscientious Indigenous authors like her who have dedicated themselves to the defense of their respective Indigenous nations. In her memoir, Cook-Lynn vehemently criticizes colonial supremacy of American literary traditions that (mis)represent Indigenous history, politics, and cultures as forms of ethnic cleansing, denials, and refusals of Indigenous claims to lands and territories.
Praxis: Journal of the Department of English Rajshahi University, 2022
Roxane Gay’s Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body examines the external pressure on a fat woman and also... more Roxane Gay’s Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body examines the external pressure on a fat woman and also criticizes the manner in which an obese body is socially objectified. Besides telling her own story of weight gain, she gravely identifies different problems of plus-size women in a thin obsessed body-intolerant society. Thus, she unmasks the patriarchal fixations in many social institutions and cultural practices which exploit the idea of thinness destroying the normal life of obese women. This paper’s basic interest is to discuss the problematic public life of these women who do not possess a culturally defined ‘normal’ body centering on selected facts that have contributed to Roxane Gay’s life. The paper elaborates on strange public reactions, ill-treatments in public spaces, and fat shaming in media which are distressful but regularly visible in the life of fat women. Presenting the notion of body positivity as an antithesis to thin obsession, the paper aims to conclude that only by creating a mentality to accept diverse body types, may the social and cultural challenges involved in an obese woman’s life be answered.
Keywords: Fat, Fat shaming, Thin obsession, Body-intolerant society, Body positivity
Green University Review of Social Sciences (GURSS), 2020
William Shakespeare's two plays The Merchant of Venice and The Tempest are constructed through 'a... more William Shakespeare's two plays The Merchant of Venice and The Tempest are constructed through 'alterity'. The first play is an example of racial, religious, and gender alterity portrayed through the Christian dominated and Jew-unfriendly society in Venice. The second play involves the question of race and gender alterity through the colonial machination of Prospero. Both Shylock's and Caliban's attempts of revenge are consequences of the perversely formed alterity. Surprisingly, the two plays bearing two unsuccessful revenge stories do not include the occasion of redemption for the characters who actively participate in the making of alterity. Therefore, the stories serve the purpose of the powerful in the end though occasionally Shakespeare gives voice to the characters that encounter troubled existence due to the racial, social, religious, and gender alterity. The paper investigates the case of alterity in both the plays and concludes that the evil that is shown through Shylock and Caliban are but reactions of alterity and both the perverseness in the societies and the evil in certain characters complement each other. First, the paper elaborates on the concept of 'alterity' in the light of 'multiculturalism'. Secondly, the paper observes the situations of racial, religious, and gender alterity in both the plays separately. Thirdly, the two plays are comparatively positioned in one frame with a focus on alterity. Overall, how the case of alterity has generated the evil machination of revenge has been critically interpreted.
Praxis-Journal of the Department of English, Rajshahi University, 2020
This paper undertakes a critical reading of two short stories by Shahidul Jahir titled “কাঠুরে ও ... more This paper undertakes a critical reading of two short stories by Shahidul Jahir titled “কাঠুরে ও দাঁড়কাক” (“The Woodcutter and the Raven”) and “ডুমুরখেকো মানুষ” (“The Fig Eaters”) to construe the ways Jahir utilizes magical realism as a tool for exposing and critiquing the contemporary capitalist society. As a subversive and exploratory narrative technique, magical realism continues to attract writers across cultures with a political agenda, such as to expose hegemonic institutions or to critique oppressive power structures and so on. In Bangladesh, Syed Waliullah and Akhtaruzzaman Ilyas are among the first ones to introduce this style of writing, however, scholars agree that the style gains a more mature and discrete expression in Shahidul Jahir—a writer whose literary texts are replete with a Marxist undertone. Nevertheless, the scholarly attention towards this writer is still relatively inadequate, and the dominant approach has been to reductively interpret him either as a Marxist writer or as a magical realist writer. This paper, instead, aims to critically examine the intersections between Jahir’s dominant aesthetic (“magical”) and political (“Marxist”) philosophy in two of his short stories. Such a critical endeavor will put Shahidul Jahir’s literary oeuvre in a newer light and will enable us to further appreciate the author by situating him within the greater literary heritage of Bangladesh.
This paper attempts to explain the animal poems of Ted Hughes in the light of Deconstruction and ... more This paper attempts to explain the animal poems of Ted Hughes in the light of Deconstruction and Psychoanalysis. The paper first presents the physical description of the violent and sometimes exotic animals in many of his animal poems. The basic aim of the study is to provide enough logic to declare the vicious animals of Ted Hughes are more humans than animals. The theories: Deconstruction and Psychoanalysis will be applied to find out how the the cruelty, the vendetta and the ferociousness of the animals in Hughes' poems go beyond their animal identities. Overall, the article promises food for thought for the readers of Ted Hughes and the English literature learners.
The year 5000 B.C. saw the extinction of the village based culture in some parts of the world and... more The year 5000 B.C. saw the extinction of the village based culture in some parts of the world and then started the city based civilization. Egyptian civilization (5000-525 B.C.) set glorious landmarks into the areas of agriculture, business, architecture, art, culture, religion and science. Especially in temple building and other architectural contributions of the Egyptians made them unique. This glorious civilization of the Pharaohs was taken by the Persians in 525 B.C. Later Egyptians were ruled by the Romans, Greeks, Arabians and Turks. Even in the very modern period it was colonized by the English. In the middle of the 20th century Egypt got its freedom from the foreign powers finally.
As a race Hebrews had mixed characteristics. For the Hittite fusion, Hebrews had long and carved ... more As a race Hebrews had mixed characteristics. For the Hittite fusion, Hebrews had long and carved nose. They were not skilled enough in the matter of warfare, architecture or painting but their religion played unexpectedly a huge role throughout the history of religion in the whole world. There is a doubt in the etymology of their name. A popular saying is that from ‘Khabiru’ or ‘Habiru’ the name ‘Hebrew’ has been originated. Another saying is that from the opposite side of the Euphrates ‘Ever’ or ‘Eber’ the name Hebrew came. Most of the scholars agree that the Hebrew people have been originated from Arab.
The poem ‘An Apple Gathering’ by Christina Rossetti talks about a betrayed love or an unfulfillme... more The poem ‘An Apple Gathering’ by Christina Rossetti talks about a betrayed love or an unfulfillment of love.The condition of a betrayed girl and the harsh treatment on her by the society is vividly pictured in this poem. The poet symbolizes the action of losing chastity or virginity, by the action of plucking ‘pink blossoms’ of an apple tree. After losing her chastity and being betrayed, the speaker faces a dangling condition which is symbolized by her ‘dangling basket’. This condition is also contrasted showing the ‘heaped-up basket’ of the other girls. When she sees other girls not betrayed in love happily singing, smiling, she laments over her ill fate. The use of symbolism to show all these, is really very authentic throughout the whole poem.
Green University Review of Social Sciences (GURSS), 2024
Ernest Hemingway’s literary works present his dualistic impression regarding life itself. Some of... more Ernest Hemingway’s literary works present his dualistic impression regarding life itself. Some of his characters show their eagerness to live a materialistic life and fulfill their desires whereas some others show the pointlessness of living such a life. Unquestionably, Hemingway makes existentialist questions through his characters. However, whether he makes a theistic existentialist question or an atheistic one needs further discussion. Many argue that his works are predominantly ‘nihilistic’ much in the manner of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche and his contemporary atheistic existentialist Jean Paul Sartre. On the contrary, there are occasions when Hemingway’s works reveal the influence of Soren Kierkegaard, Karl Jaspers, and Gabriel Marcel who all belong to the theistic school of existentialism. This paper observes Ernest Hemingway’s two short stories: “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” to trace the dichotomous existentialist perspective reflected in them. First, the paper briefly discusses the two schools of existentialism and the philosophers involved in both. Then, the two selected short stories are analyzed as tools for Hemingway’s philosophical dualism.
Praxis: Journal of the Department of English Rajshahi University, 2023
Daniel Venegas’ The Adventures of Don Chipote is a story about the journey of an unfortunate farm... more Daniel Venegas’ The Adventures of Don Chipote is a story about the journey of an unfortunate farmer Don Chipote who decides to come to the United States crossing the border through El Paso in the 1920s to strike it rich but ends up experiencing rampant racism, abuse, and the allure of leaving his Mexican traditions behind. Despite the presence of an omniscient narrator, the story revolves around a number of perspectives. The third-person narrative shifts not only from one character to another but also to different places and occasionally different periods of time. The sudden addition of the writer’s own experiences as a migrant in the USA which is described in a first-person narrative makes the narrative instrumental in presenting the themes of the novel. Moreover, the direct addressing to the readers which may be seen in the dramas makes the narrative mode of the novel quite unique compared to the contemporary linear coming-of-age adventure stories. Additionally, Daniel Venegas uses many literary techniques such as similes, metaphors, ironies, epithets, hyperboles, alliteration, onomatopoeia, paradox, and the like. This article critically observes the multi-perspective narrative and literary technique and explains how they generate multiple themes such as passion, illusion, responsibility, harsh reality, human behavior, friendship, and ownership in this novel. Drawing upon Russian Formalist aspects such as Roman Jakobson’s ‘literariness’, Viktor Shklovsky’s theory of ‘estrangement’, Mikhail Bakhtin’s ‘heteroglossia’, and Vladimir Propp’s ‘seven archetypes’, this article overall makes a language, structural, and functional appreciation of the novel.
This paper attempts to explain the animal poems of Ted Hughes in the light of Deconstruction and ... more This paper attempts to explain the animal poems of Ted Hughes in the light of Deconstruction and Psychoanalysis. The paper first presents the physical description of the violent and sometimes exotic animals in many of his animal poems and then tries to explore the hermeneutics of them. The basic aim of the study is to provide enough logic to declare that the vicious animals of Ted Hughes are more humans than animals. The theories: Deconstruction and Psychoanalysis will be applied to find out how the cruelty, the vendetta and the ferociousness of the animals in Hughes' poems go beyond their animal identities. Overall, the article promises food for thought for the readers of Ted Hughes and the English literature learners.
Bangladesh Army University of Engineering and Technology (BAUET), Journal, 2020
In George Orwell's well-composed nonfictions through which he voices against the very imperial na... more In George Orwell's well-composed nonfictions through which he voices against the very imperial nature of the British Empire, there is a subtle tone of superior English race while describing Indians or people of the subcontinent. The tone of Orwell while giving the physical description of these people often poses questions towards the noble purposes of his writings. One common feature in his works is the author's contrasting feelings about the Orient and Orientals from the white men's perspective. To justify the arguments two of Orwell's Essays A Hanging and Shooting an Elephant have been chosen. The aim is to revise the two mentioned essays and their common interpretations and at the same time, to unmask the racist approaches hidden beneath the wrapping of kind words. To support the cause, Edward Said's concept of the Orient and the Occident expressed in his Orientalism is used as the theoretical ground. Said has explored the idea of an authoritative construction of Orientalism historically by the imperial powers such as French and British empires and in George Orwell's nonfictions, this 'authoritative construction' of Indians has been subtly presented. Thus, using Edward Said's theory as a counter-argument to George Orwell, the paper would make a postcolonial study of the two mentioned nonfictions.
Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe presents the old self of the hero as the narrator of the story of ... more Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe presents the old self of the hero as the narrator of the story of the younger self making it a fictional autobiographical novel. The moral dimension of the novel is emphasized with Crusoe, the narrator, evaluating and judging the past behavior of Crusoe, the character. The young character Crusoe is intolerant, adventurous and a dreamer whereas the old narrator is an experienced wise man and well-composed personality. But the character develops through a journey within along with the external journey of 28 years and finally morphs into the self of the narrator. The initial hierarchy between the narrator and the character dissolves through the struggles and self-education of the character while living a long solitary life on the island. The paper first discusses how the presence of the voice of the narrator within the text creates the contrast between the two forms, the character and the narrator extracting examples where the narrator proves to be philosophically sound and greatly advanced from the character. Secondly, the paper points out how the character functions within many virtues that reduce and finally eliminate the psychological gap or the hierarchy as the novel progresses. Keywords: Narrator, Character, Contrast, Metamorphosis
Harvest: Jahangirnagar University Studies in Language and Literature, 2019
Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is developed through a philosophical c... more Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is developed through a philosophical contrast between the traveler who is obsessed by the seductive beauty of the woods and the horse which seems to be practical as it understands the danger of giving a sudden pause in such a stark spatial situation. The traveler seems to have a romantic desire to be lost in nature and the horse is a realistic thinker. The success of the horse in making the traveler change his mind may be seen as the succession of realism from transcendentalism. The stopping of the traveler amidst ‘sublime’ nature resembles Emersonian consideration of transcendentalist nature, and the decision to leave the place of woods and snowfall by the end of the poem may be associated with both the denial of transcendentalism and the acceptance of realism. Acknowledging the transition of America from Puritanism to Transcendentalism, the paper places American realism expressed by Frost in the current poem as a synthesis of the two former philosophical genres. First of all, the paper explains the transition of America from Puritanism to transcendentalism and successive realism elaborating the contrast among the three philosophical genres. Then, the paper discovers an Emersonian urge in the traveler of Frost and explains how the urge has been denied. Finally, the realistic realization of the traveler is associated with the development of American Realism. Overall, the paper intends to show the poem as an example of the philosophical transition in America from Emerson to Frost. Keywords: Emerson, transcendentalism, realism, obsession, sublime, disillusionment
Keats’ Sufi Speaker Jumps Back to Reality: An Evaluation of “Ode to Nightingale”, Jul 7, 2022
Sufism predates Romanticism by over 900 years and has an arresting similarity with British Romant... more Sufism predates Romanticism by over 900 years and has an arresting similarity with British Romanticism and American transcendentalism. The faith in an immortal afterlife, the consideration of death as a gateway to eternity, and the belief in the unity of the creator and the creation make the two philosophical genres very close to each other. John Keats, being one of the greatest British romantic poets, has shown numerous occasions where he puts death in a hierarchic position over life, and also describes elements that have eternal nature. Sufism too searches for a greater mystic regardless of the pain and pleasure of the material world. Keats’ “Ode to Nightingale” presents the poet himself having an obsession with the spiritual world of the nightingale but his wish is countered by the sudden return to reality. Hence, through a Sufi evaluation of the ode, the hasty transformation of the poet may be explored. First of all, the definition, origin, and overall practices of Sufism are briefly discussed. Also, how Sufism concurs with other philosophical developments, especially in Europe is also highlighted. Finally, a close observation of the poem is made through which the dilemma between Keats’ Sufi and realistic double consciousness is explored.
Dakota writer Elizabeth Cook-Lynn’s memoir In Defense of Loose Translations: An Indian Life in an... more Dakota writer Elizabeth Cook-Lynn’s memoir In Defense of Loose Translations: An Indian Life in an Academic World is an excellent resource for those who are fairly new to Native/Indigenous studies (e.g., researchers coming from outside of the Americas and Europe) and want to understand the basic concerns of Indigenous scholarship. American historiography demonstrates “a process of collective memory erasure”1 that denies the presence of the Native nations. It is truly impossible to appreciate the scholarship on Indigenous nations and their histories of ongoing colonial oppressions, historical wrongdoings for centuries, without looking into the works of Cook-Lynn and conscientious Indigenous authors like her who have dedicated themselves to the defense of their respective Indigenous nations. In her memoir, Cook-Lynn vehemently criticizes colonial supremacy of American literary traditions that (mis)represent Indigenous history, politics, and cultures as forms of ethnic cleansing, denials, and refusals of Indigenous claims to lands and territories.
Praxis: Journal of the Department of English Rajshahi University, 2022
Roxane Gay’s Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body examines the external pressure on a fat woman and also... more Roxane Gay’s Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body examines the external pressure on a fat woman and also criticizes the manner in which an obese body is socially objectified. Besides telling her own story of weight gain, she gravely identifies different problems of plus-size women in a thin obsessed body-intolerant society. Thus, she unmasks the patriarchal fixations in many social institutions and cultural practices which exploit the idea of thinness destroying the normal life of obese women. This paper’s basic interest is to discuss the problematic public life of these women who do not possess a culturally defined ‘normal’ body centering on selected facts that have contributed to Roxane Gay’s life. The paper elaborates on strange public reactions, ill-treatments in public spaces, and fat shaming in media which are distressful but regularly visible in the life of fat women. Presenting the notion of body positivity as an antithesis to thin obsession, the paper aims to conclude that only by creating a mentality to accept diverse body types, may the social and cultural challenges involved in an obese woman’s life be answered.
Keywords: Fat, Fat shaming, Thin obsession, Body-intolerant society, Body positivity
Green University Review of Social Sciences (GURSS), 2020
William Shakespeare's two plays The Merchant of Venice and The Tempest are constructed through 'a... more William Shakespeare's two plays The Merchant of Venice and The Tempest are constructed through 'alterity'. The first play is an example of racial, religious, and gender alterity portrayed through the Christian dominated and Jew-unfriendly society in Venice. The second play involves the question of race and gender alterity through the colonial machination of Prospero. Both Shylock's and Caliban's attempts of revenge are consequences of the perversely formed alterity. Surprisingly, the two plays bearing two unsuccessful revenge stories do not include the occasion of redemption for the characters who actively participate in the making of alterity. Therefore, the stories serve the purpose of the powerful in the end though occasionally Shakespeare gives voice to the characters that encounter troubled existence due to the racial, social, religious, and gender alterity. The paper investigates the case of alterity in both the plays and concludes that the evil that is shown through Shylock and Caliban are but reactions of alterity and both the perverseness in the societies and the evil in certain characters complement each other. First, the paper elaborates on the concept of 'alterity' in the light of 'multiculturalism'. Secondly, the paper observes the situations of racial, religious, and gender alterity in both the plays separately. Thirdly, the two plays are comparatively positioned in one frame with a focus on alterity. Overall, how the case of alterity has generated the evil machination of revenge has been critically interpreted.
Praxis-Journal of the Department of English, Rajshahi University, 2020
This paper undertakes a critical reading of two short stories by Shahidul Jahir titled “কাঠুরে ও ... more This paper undertakes a critical reading of two short stories by Shahidul Jahir titled “কাঠুরে ও দাঁড়কাক” (“The Woodcutter and the Raven”) and “ডুমুরখেকো মানুষ” (“The Fig Eaters”) to construe the ways Jahir utilizes magical realism as a tool for exposing and critiquing the contemporary capitalist society. As a subversive and exploratory narrative technique, magical realism continues to attract writers across cultures with a political agenda, such as to expose hegemonic institutions or to critique oppressive power structures and so on. In Bangladesh, Syed Waliullah and Akhtaruzzaman Ilyas are among the first ones to introduce this style of writing, however, scholars agree that the style gains a more mature and discrete expression in Shahidul Jahir—a writer whose literary texts are replete with a Marxist undertone. Nevertheless, the scholarly attention towards this writer is still relatively inadequate, and the dominant approach has been to reductively interpret him either as a Marxist writer or as a magical realist writer. This paper, instead, aims to critically examine the intersections between Jahir’s dominant aesthetic (“magical”) and political (“Marxist”) philosophy in two of his short stories. Such a critical endeavor will put Shahidul Jahir’s literary oeuvre in a newer light and will enable us to further appreciate the author by situating him within the greater literary heritage of Bangladesh.
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Papers by Ashik Istiak
Publications by Ashik Istiak
Keywords: Narrator, Character, Contrast, Metamorphosis
Keywords: Emerson, transcendentalism, realism, obsession, sublime, disillusionment
Keywords: Fat, Fat shaming, Thin obsession, Body-intolerant society, Body positivity
This paper, instead, aims to critically examine the intersections between Jahir’s dominant aesthetic (“magical”) and political (“Marxist”) philosophy in two of his short stories. Such a critical endeavor will put Shahidul Jahir’s literary oeuvre in a newer light and will enable us to further appreciate the author by situating him within the greater literary heritage of Bangladesh.
Keywords: Narrator, Character, Contrast, Metamorphosis
Keywords: Emerson, transcendentalism, realism, obsession, sublime, disillusionment
Keywords: Fat, Fat shaming, Thin obsession, Body-intolerant society, Body positivity
This paper, instead, aims to critically examine the intersections between Jahir’s dominant aesthetic (“magical”) and political (“Marxist”) philosophy in two of his short stories. Such a critical endeavor will put Shahidul Jahir’s literary oeuvre in a newer light and will enable us to further appreciate the author by situating him within the greater literary heritage of Bangladesh.