Anyone desiring to get a good feel for the breadth of fiction writing in Bangladesh would do well to pick up a copy of the outstanding anthology From the Delta: English fiction from Bangladesh (2010, ISBN 978 984 506 004 2), edited by Niaz Zaman. This is one of the best fiction collections we here at WoWasis have ever read, and it’s indicative of the writing talent that has thrived in the Bengali arena for decades.

The first story, Sultana’s Dream, by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, comes as something of a shocker. It was written in 1905, and it’s feminist science fiction, an amazing story based on the premise that men are essentially second class citizens, while women run the show and travel through the skies in “air-cars.” The full story is available online, and here are two  examples of Hossain’s thought-provoking prose, the first regarding the position of men in this imaginary society, the second regarding the futuristic technology available:

– ‘I have seen some of them [men] doing their work. Do you think they work all the seven hours?’ – ‘Certainly they do!’

 – ‘ No, dear Sultana, they do not. They dawdle away their time in smoking. Some smoke two or three cheroots during the office time. They talk much about their work, but do little. Suppose one cheroot takes half an hour to burn off, and a man smokes twelve cheroots daily; then you see, he wastes six hours every day in sheer smoking.’

She screwed a couple of seats onto a square piece of plank. To this plank she attached two smooth and well-polished balls. When I asked her what the balls were for, she said they were hydrogen balls and they were used to overcome the force of gravity. The balls were of different capacities to be used according to the different weights desired to be overcome. She then fastened to the air-car two wing-like blades, which, she said, were worked by electricity. After we were comfortably seated she touched a knob and the blades began to whirl, moving faster and faster every moment. At first we were raised to the height of about six or seven feet and then off we flew. And before I could realize that we had commenced moving, we reached the garden of the Queen.

 Hossain’s story whets the appetite for the stories that come later. There are 24 stories in this 211 page compilation, and most of them are compelling. All combine human interest and Bengali culture, and they’re fascinating. Several of them take place in London. It would be difficult to pick a second favorite, as there were many. We particularly enjoyed Aali A. Rehman’s Grandmother’s Wardrobe, though, a story of misplaced and forgotten riches.

Roquiah Sakhawat Hossein

Writers contributing to this well-selected anthology include: Kazi Anis Ahmed, Syed Badrul Ahsan, ShahidAlam, RazaAli, Mohammad Badrul Ahsan, Dilruba Z. Ara, Tulip Chowdhury, Towheed Feroze, Farah Ghuznavi, Roquiah Sakhawat Hossein, Khademul Islam, Syed Manzurul Islam, RaziaKhan, Razia Sultana Khan, Rubaiyat Khan, Munize M. Khasru, Nuzhat Amin Mannan, Maithilee Mitra, Shabnam Nadiya, Farhana Haque Rahman, Aali A. Rehman, Neeman A. Sobhan, Syed Waliullah, and Niaz Zaman.

This wonderful collection is highly recommended as not only a terrific collection of fiction, but as an important introduction to Bangladeshi culture.