Khondakar Ashraf Hossain


Khondakar Ashraf Hossain was a leading postmodernist poet, essayist, translator, and editor from Bangladesh. He wrote more than eighteen titles.

Early life and education

Hossain was born on 4 January 1950 to a Bengali Muslim family of Khondakars in the village of Joynagar in Sarishabari, Jamalpur, then part of the Mymensingh District of East Bengal. He earned a BA degree in 1970, and an MA degree in 1971, both are in English and from the University of Dhaka. After he got MAs in linguistics and ELT from the University of Leeds in 1981. He also obtained a PhD in English from the University of Dhaka and a postgraduate diploma in Teaching English Overseas from the University of Leeds in 1980. His doctoral thesis is entitled Modernism and Beyond: Western Influence on Bangladeshi Poetry, which he defended under Dr. Syed Manzoorul Islam, another doyen and celebrated writer in the department.

Professional and literary life

Hossain was a professor and chairman of the Department of English at the University of Dhaka. In May 2013 he had been appointed as the third vice-chancellor of Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University at Trishal, Mymensingh, Bangladesh. He was also a member of the Syndicate & Faculty Selection Committee of the BRAC University.
In his decades-long teaching career, he was immensely popular among his students for his unique lectures delivered with ready wit and remarkable quips. He has published a number of collections of poetry and of essays in Bengali and English. About the readership of poetry, he says:
Hossain translates from Bengali to English and from German and English to Bengali. His poems have been translated into English, German, French, Telugu and Hindi. Hossain edits and publishes a literary magazine: Ekobingsho which was founded by Hossain himself in 1985 with its main focus on the new poetry of Bangladesh.

Theatrical work

Hossain patronized a drama group called Nagorik since the seventies, one of Bangladesh's leading theatrical groups, for which Hossein served as both president and dramatist.

Critical reception

Hossain wrote a wide variety of poems in lucid language and with innovative and suggestive imagery. Expressiveness and eloquence in his poetry came from his successful, spontaneous combination of national and world heritage and mythology with his personal experience and feelings. Though he began to write when postmodernism was blooming fast in the west, he denies to identify himself as an avowed post-modernist. In his book On Behula's Raft's launch ceremony, he said about himself that "my soul is nourished by the alluvial soil and the moistures of riverine Bangladesh, which is my Behula". Fakrul Alam considered his poems "humorous and witty" in some cases. Syed Manzoorul Islam opined that Hossain at his initial stage was a romantic poet, but is now a realistic poet, as he is writing in a very self-conscious way. His love poems are characterised by stark realism rather than by romantic euphoria. Anisuzzaman deemed his poetry as the socio-political representation of Bangladesh. He explored not only the contemporary social and political condition of his country but also "the grounds of existential philosophy in conceiving human life as fragile yet undying, as self-destructive yet eternal".
Hossain's poetry is noted for its engagement with philosophical concerns. For having some drishtantoist poems, he would be important in Bengali poetry.

Death

Hossain, died of a heart attack in Lab-aid hospital in Dhaka at 12 noon on 16 June 2013. He was undergoing treatment at Labaid Specialized Hospital, Dhaka since 14 June due to health complications. He suffered a major heart attack at 8:30 am and died around 11:00 am on 16 June. The ailing professor was being treated when he died at the age of 63.

Awards and honours

Poetry

Tin Ramanir Qasida Partho Tomar Teebro Teer Jibaner Saman Chumuk Sundari O Ghrinar Ghungur Jamuna Parba Janmo Baul Tomar Namey Brishti Namey Aiona Dekhey Andha Manush
  • "Kuyashar Mushayara" 2013

Anthologies

Nirbachito Kabita' Kabita Samgraha
  • ''On Behula's Raft''

Prose

  • ''Romantic and Modern: Latitudes and Longitudes of Poetry''

Collections of essays

Bangladesher Kabita: Antaranga Abalokan Chirayata Puraan Kabitar AntarjamiAdhunik Uttaradhunik o AnnyanyaPrasango Bishwakabitar Sonali Shasya
  • ''Modernism and Beyond: Western Influences on Bangladeshi poetry''

Criritism

Rabindranath, Yeats Ebang Gitanjali
  • ''Bangalir Dwidha O Rabindranath Ebang Bibidho Tatyatalash''

Translations

Selected Poems of Paul Celan Folk Poems from Bangladesh co-written with Serajul Islam Choudhury and Kabir ChowdhuryFolk Tales from Bangladesh Elements of General Phonetics by David Abercrombie Sophocles' King Oedipus, Euripides' Alcestis, Medea

Editorial

The Dhaka University Studies, EditorEkobingsho, EditorSelected Poems of Nirmalendu Goon The Bangla Academy English–Bengali Dictionary
  • ''An English Anthology''