‘Research supplies a
writer’s lifeblood’
Philosophy professor at Dinajpur Government College, Masudul Hoq started out as a poet and later moved out to other areas including fiction and research. Tapan Shahed caught up with the researcher at the Ekushey Book Fair this week, where Hoq has ten books out this year
photo by Momena Jalil
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New Age: What do you think overall of the fundamental research on literature in Bangladesh?
Masudul Hoq: The historical event of the division of the Indian subcontinent had triggered research activities in the field of literature in today’s Bangladesh. Since then the study of Bangla literature took two different directions, with Dr Muhammad Shahidullah leading one side and Sunitikumar Chattapadhyay on the other. In the two versions of the history, the interpretation of medieval Bangla literature has different look. Later, Sayed Ali Ahsan and Wakil Ahmed continued Shahidullah’s interpretation and Sukumar Sen and Asitkumar Bandapadhyay followed the latter’s.
Fundamental research in Bangladesh has been being conducted in five fields: poetry, fiction, drama, non-fiction and folklore. Here in Bangladesh we are still dependent on the western method of criticism, theories, and philosophy to interpret thoughts manifested in literature. However, in their research works, some creative writers have followed the eastern method. Among them, Selim Al-Deen’s Madhyajuger Bangla Natya, Humayun Azad’s Shamsur Rahman: Nishshango Sherpa, and Abdul Mannan Sayed’s Shuddhotamo Kobi are the most prominent ones. Until the 1980s, we had to depend on research-based criticism by authors from West Bengal. My Ph D research work, Bangladesher Kobitay Nandotatto, was dependent on them. By the end of the decade, our own method of research started developing. Some intellectual writers stretched their hands out to the field, most of whom were teachers at the universities. Nevertheless, an international standard and originality are yet to be achieved.
NA: What support do institutions give in the field of literature research?
MH: To be frank, our institutions speak a lot but do almost nothing. I myself did my research under Bangla Academy fellowship, but it is no longer offered. The University Grants Commission and other universities also have some allotment. Since many opportunities require political lobbing to achieve, this is a major cause of politicisation among our researchers and intellectuals. However, substantial support from corporate institutions is available in many fields of research outside literature. In fact, institutions give much more preference on research in the fields of social sciences and business. Economic interest is the obvious reason. Moreover, as nation, we have little interest in subjects like literature that does not directly earn you a living.
TS: Why is literature research is necessary? To what extent does it influence literature?
MH: Literature contains the mindset of a nation. To study this mindset, there is no alternative to researching literature. Literature can get positive guidance through research. Comparative study of literature can link local literatures to the global ideas and thoughts.
TS: What research is done
on contemporary writers?
MH: Recently works of research are considered eligible for professional purposes. No doubt the number has increased, but few are up to the mark regarding quality and originality. Still, it is inspiring that the research mentality is growing among writers compared to the past generations. Writers now consider research to be a prerequisite for writing novels more seriously than ever. Akhtaruzzaman Elias devoted a great deal of effort researching the folk culture, geography, people and political history of Bogra and Gaibandha districts when preparing for writing the novel Khowabnama. Research was also vitally important in Selina Hossain’s novel Purno Chobir Mognota which was based on Rabindranath Tagore’s life. Papri Rahman’s novel Boyon required substantial research on the jamdani industry. Mamun Huhain’s story Shagato on Elias is another example. In the short story collection Tamakbari I myself had to collect information in Burirhat, the tobacco cultivation area in Rangpur. Poets and fiction writers are simultaneously involved in both research and writing.
TS: You studied philosophy at university level and now teach the subject. But you chose Bangla literature and aesthetics as the area of your PhD research. Why is this change?
MH: I am not actually willing to accept the term ‘change’. Though my discipline was philosophy, I have been actively involved in creative writing. Literature is essentially philosophy-dependent. As a practitioner of Bangla literature, I have tried in my research to discover the philosophical infrastructure of it. As a writer that was important to me. Besides, aesthetics is the bridge between literature and philosophy. As a student of philosophy, I felt the inadequacy of appropriateness of the methods for fundamental research on matters of this part of the globe in our syllabus based on the western style philosophy. Bangla literature has its own horizons. I have merely tried to explore those horizons with a philosophical view.
TS: Apart from literary research, you have done research on other fields. As a writer, how do those works benefit you?
MH: I consider myself an adoitobadi, a writer and a researcher. Research outside literature is also an ingredient of literature. For literature comprises everything in life. My research on the local history of the Liberation War shall provide me with elements for creating literature. This is a direct product. Even more great works of literature reach the universality going past regionalism. This kind of research brings me to the physical experiences and forms of the being of man’s life, which supplies me with lifeblood as a writer. I say the same about research on folk culture.
Works to look out for
Hajar Bochhorer Bangla Kabita
Dinajpurer Loksngskriti: Oitijjho o Uttoradhikar
Muktijuddho: Dinajpur
Bangla Kobitay Nandontatto
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