Selected Essays

by Kabir Chowdhury

Twenty-seven essays drawn from a variety of context of the cultural life of Bangladesh make this volume a unique presentation from the country's most respected octogenarian literary giant. The essays offer not only an introduction to some of the most important cultural issues Bangladesh faces at the turn of the twenty-first century but in fact represent the intellectual concerns of the time. The reader will find illuminating treatment of such issues as the complexity and multidimensionality of culture, civil society and fundamentalism. The reader will also find Professor Chowdhury's perceptive assessment of some distinguished writers, political thinkers and social reformers of both the East and the West. One will also find here several other interesting topics, discussed pleasantly, albeit with deep introspection. Kabir Chowdhury (1923) is a distinguished academic, a National Professor of Bangladesh, and a highly acclaimed essayist, translator and civil society leader. For his contribution in the fields of education, literature and peace he has received many national and international awards. He is a prolific translator and a writer on diverse subjects, including painting and sculpture of the west. His published works now number about two hundred. At the age of 86 he is as active as ever.

206 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2009

About the author

Kabir Chowdhury (Bangla: কবীর চৌধুরী) was a well-known academic, essayist, materialist, translator, cultural worker, civil society activist and a pioneer in the movement against fundamentalism in Bangladesh. He's the brother of Munier Choudhury.

Kabir grew up in an atmosphere of liberal ideas and secular thinking. When he studied English literature in Dhaka University in the early 1940s he was greatly impressed by the writings of H.G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw and Bertrand Russell, among others. During the second World War he was deeply troubled by the Nazi atrocities carried out in their concentration camps, the mass killing of Jews as a plan of ethnic cleansing and the destruction of all democratic norms. Kabir’s faith in democracy, secularism and liberal thoughts grew stronger by the day and he found himself drawn to socialist ideology.

He has written extensively on world’s famous writers and painters. He has also written extensively on peace and conflict resolution through discussion and has tried to promote these values by his work as a teacher and as an administrator. He was inducted as National Professor of Bangladesh in 1998. He was the chairman of the Advisory Council of Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee (Committee for Resisting the Killers and Collaborators of 1971). In all the above capacities he has significantly contributed to the dissemination of secular ideas and democratic values. His ideology is materialism. He has written extensively on anti-fundamentalism, religious fanaticism and communalism, and has stressed the need for developing broad human values and for realizing the importance of cultural diversity, and the imperatives for developing a pluralistic society. Professor Chowdhury played a leading role in many movements in Bangladesh, especially in the anti-communal movement, movement to establish democracy, and significantly in the movement to ensure the trial of those who had committed crimes against humanity and war crimes during the War of Liberation of Bangladesh in 1971.

For his contribution to education, literature and civil society movements, Kabir Chowdhury was nationally and internationally honored with Swadhinata Dibosh Padak (1997), Ekushey Padak (1991), Bangla Academy Award (1973), Tagore Peace Award (India).