Novel
চিলেকোঠার সেপাই
Not translated into English
Akhteruzzaman Elias · 1987
Synopsis
Dhaka, at the time of the 1969 uprising. Osman lives alone in a room under the roofs of the old city; he dreams of his father's death, can no longer always tell hallucination from reality, and the news that someone has been shot ends up seeming ordinary to him. Around him, the movement spreads through the city and, even in the village of Gotia, in the north, rises up against the landowners, the propertied classes and the Pakistani masters.
Context
The author, who wrote only two novels, published this one first as a serial, before its appearance in volume form at University Press, in Dhaka, in 1987. In it he makes old Dhaka and the rural north of Bengal speak in their own dialects. The anthropologist Matthew D. Rich has undertaken an English translation, under the title Rooftop Soldier, from which he has published chapters. The novel has been adapted for the screen.
Who it is for
A dense novel with many characters and mixed speech; it helps to know the 1969 uprising against Ayub Khan.
Prizes and reception
It is considered the most accurate description of life in old Dhaka, and the University of Chicago has included it in its Bengali studies programme.