Syed
Waliullah was not a productive writer. He has only two volumes of short
stories, Nayanchara and Dui Teer O Anyanya Galpa and three plays,
Bahipeer, Suranga and Tarangabhanga. Apart from Lalsalu, he wrote two
other novels in Bangla, Chander Amabasya and Kando Nadi Kando as well as
a novel in English, The Ugly Asian, which he had written under a pen
name. Sometime in the late sixties, Syed Waliullah was perhaps inspired
by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick's The Ugly American to write a
novel in English, and one very different from Lalsalu or his later
existential novels. A political allegory, The Ugly Asian, takes place in
an imaginary Asian country where there has just been a change of
government. However, the new government is as corrupt and anti-people as
the previous government and the novel ends with a revolution.
Syed
Waliullah was born on August 15 in 1922 at Sholashahar in Chittagong.
His father, Syed Ahmadullah, was a government officer whose postings
took him to different mofussil towns in Bengal: Mymensingh, Feni,
Chittagong, Krishnanagar, Kurigram. Thus, the young Waliullah, who
accompanied his father, was able to learn about rural life in Bengal.
Apart from one unpublished piece of fiction in English, all Waliullah's
writings are set in Bengal. His most famous novel, Lalsalu (1948), for
example, was inspired by a shrine covered with red cloth that he would
often pass when he lived with his father in Mymensingh. Syed Waliullah
is recognised as one of the foremost of contemporary Bengali writers.
He received the Bangla Academy Award in 1961 before his two later novels
were published, thus stressing the importance of Lalsalu. He also
subsequently received the Adamjee Prize and the Ekushey Padak.
Waliullah
completed his BA from Anandamohan College in Mymensingh in 1943 and
then moved to Calcutta, where he hoped to do his Masters in Economics.
However, he was unable to complete his MA and joined the Statesman,
where he worked till 1947. Proficient in English, he also briefly
published an English journal, Contemporary. In 1947, after the
Partition, Syed Waliullah left Calcutta and came to Dhaka, joining Radio
Pakistan. He was transferred to Karachi in 1950. In 1951 he left Radio
Pakistan and served as press attaché at the Pakistan missions in New
Delhi, Sydney, Jakarta and London. It was in Sydney that Waliullah met
Anne Marie Thibaud, a French woman, whom he married in 1955. In 1960, he
was posted as first secretary at the Pakistan embassy in Paris. In
1967, he joined the UNESCO in Paris.
During the Liberation War
in 1971, Syed Waliullah worked with his friend Justice Abu Sayeed
Chowdhury to enlist the support of a number of French intellectuals,
including Pierre Emanuel and Andre Malraux, in mobilising world public
opinion for Bangladesh. He passed away in Paris on 10 October that year,
without having seen the liberation of the country. Syed Waliullah's
wife, Anne Marie whom he married in 1955, translated his first novel
Lalsalu into French. This was later translated into English as Tree
Without Roots. Lalsalu depicts the life of the people of rural East
Bengal at a time when its intellectuals were greatly agitated over
political issues. The novel exposes the manipulations and activities of
charlatans exploiting the religious beliefs of the common people. The
novel revealed his deep understanding of human psychology.
Chander
Amabasya and Kando Nadi Kando are two other novels by him that are
considered exceptional additions to Bangla literature. In these two
novels he also shows with great artistry his commitment to the
philosophy of Existentialism. Two books of short stories that he has
written are Nayanchara (1951) and Dui Tir O Anyanya Galpa. Three plays
that he composed are Bahipir (1960), Tarabgabhabga (1964) and Sudabga
(1964). His short stories and plays often expose the social prejudices,
religious deceptions and moral aberrations of people.
For twenty
years - from his posting in Karachi to his subsequent postings in
different cities and his sojourn in Paris - Waliullah lived away from
his Bangla-speaking milieu. Nevertheless, apart from one piece of
fiction set in Paris, he continued to write about his homeland.
However, as Professor Serajul Islam Choudhury has suggested in "Syed
Waliullah and His Lonely Heroes," Syed Waliullah was often assailed by
feelings that he was out of tune with his home country. He also perhaps
felt a deep sense of nostalgia for the land that he had left behind.
October 10 marked the 47th death anniversary of Syed Waliullah.
The
writer is a freelance contributor.
