Bangladeshi novelist and playwright
Syed Waliullah
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Waliullah with his wife Anne Marie in Karachi in 1956
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Native name
| ????? ????????????
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Born
| (
1922-08-15
)
August 15, 1922
Sholashahar,
Chittagong
,
Bengal Presidency
, British India
|
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Died
| October 10, 1971
(1971-10-10)
(aged 49)
Meudon
, Paris, France
[1]
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Resting place
| Meudon
, France
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Occupation
| novelist, short story writer, playwright, news editor
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Alma mater
| Ananda Mohan College
(1943)
University of Calcutta
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Notable works
| Lalsalu
|
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Notable awards
| Ekushey Padak
|
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Spouse
|
Anne Marie Thibaud
(
m.
1955; till his death 1971)
|
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Relatives
| Syed Ahmadullah (father)
|
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|
www
.syedwaliullah
.com
|
Syed Waliullah
(August 15, 1922 ? October 10, 1971) was a Bangladeshi novelist, short-story writer and playwright. He was notable for his
debut novel
,
Lalsalu
(translated in English with the title
"Tree Without Roots"
). He was awarded
Bangla Academy Literary Award
(1961), Adamjee Prize (1965),
Ekushey Padak
(1984) and
Bangladesh National Film for Best Story
(2001).
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Waliullah was born on 15 August 1922 at Sholashahar in
Chittagong District
to Nasim Ara Khatun and Syed Ahmadullah. His mother died when he was twelve. He has an elder brother, Syed Nasrullah. His father, Syed Ahmadullah, was a government officer. He was a district magistrate of British Raj period. Waliullah spent his childhood in
Mymensingh
,
Feni
,
Krishnanagar
and
Kurigram
. His notable novel,
Lalsalu
, was inspired by a shrine covered with red cloth that he would often pass when he lived in Mymensingh.
[2]
Waliullah passed his matriculation examination in 1939 from Kurigram High School. He completed his IA from Dhaka Intermediate College in 1941 and bachelor's from
Ananda Mohan College
in
Mymensingh
in 1943. He then moved to
Calcutta
to complete his master's in economics. But he couldn't complete his master's due to untimely demise of his father. He joined
The Statesman
newspaper and worked until 1947.
[2]
[3]
Career
[
edit
]
In 1947, Waliullah moved from Calcutta to
Dhaka
. He joined
Radio Pakistan
. In 1950, he was transferred to
Karachi
. In 1951, he started serving as the press attache at the Pakistan missions in New Delhi,
Sydney
,
Jakarta
and London. In 1960, he was appointed as the First Secretary at the Pakistan embassy in Paris. In 1967, he joined the UNESCO in Paris.
Literature
[
edit
]
Waliullah is often considered the pioneer of existential analysis of the characters psyche in the literature of Bangladesh. The last two of his three novels, especially '
Kando Nadi Kando (Cry, o river)
, (????? ??? ?????) (1968), show his mastery in revealing the inner depths of his characters.
[4]
Chander Amaboshay (Dark moon)
(?????? ???????? ), (1964) was another famous novel of him.
Nayanchara
(????????), (1946) and
Dui Tir O Anyanya Galpa
(??? ??? ??? ???????? ????), (1965) are storybooks written by him.
Lalsalu
[
edit
]
Lalsalu
tells the story of Majid, a poor man from a devout
Muslim
background. Majid comes to a remote village. He declares an old grave to be the
Mazar
that of a
Pir
, covers it with the traditional red cloth used for mausoleums, and establishes his stronghold on the life of the people using the reflected power on him of the supposed saint. The novel shows his struggle with other religious figures trying to establish dominance, the undercurrent of pagan ideas among the people, and his own weaknesses.
[5]
The novel was adapted to a
Tanvir Mokammel
film with
the same title
in 2001.
Personal life and death
[
edit
]
Waliullah met Anne Marie Thibaud (1929?1997), a French woman, in Sydney. They were married in 1955 and had two children, Simine and Iraj. He was a cousin of
Jamal Nazrul Islam
, a physicist and mathematician.
[6]
Waliullah died in
Meudon
in Paris on October 10, 1971.
Works
[
edit
]
- Novels
- Lalsalu
(Tree without roots), 1948
- Chander Amaboshay
(Dark moon), 1963
- Kando Nadi Kando
(Cry, o river), 1966
- The Ugly Asian
, 1959
[7]
- Dramas
- Bahipir
(1955)
- Tarangabhanga
(1964)
- Sudanga
(1964)
- Short story collection
- Nayanchara
(1945)
- Dui Teer O Anyanya Galpa
(1965)
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Alam, Shafiul (2012).
"Waliullah, Syed"
. In
Islam, Sirajul
; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.).
Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh
(Second ed.).
Asiatic Society of Bangladesh
.
- ^
a
b
Zaman, Niaz (13 August 2016).
"Syed Waliullah Existentialism, Nostalgia, Nationalism"
.
The Daily Star
. Retrieved
13 August
2016
.
- ^
"Syed Waliullahs Childhood"
.
- ^
Haq, Kaiser (5 January 2014).
"Arts & Letters"
(PDF)
.
Dhaka Tribune
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 5 March 2016
. Retrieved
13 August
2016
.
- ^
Choudhury, Serajul Islam (2005).
"Introduction" Tree Without Roots
. Dhaka, Bangladesh: writers.ink. pp. ix.
ISBN
984-32-2546-5
.
- ^
"????? ????? ?????"
(in Bengali). gunijan.org.bd
. Retrieved
13 August
2016
.
- ^
Alam, Shahid (25 March 2014).
"Observations in or about politics"
.
The Daily Star
. Retrieved
13 August
2016
.
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See also
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1986?2000
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2001?present
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International
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