Shishir Bhattacharja


Shishir Bhattacharja is a Bangladeshi linguist, writer, columnist, and a professor of the French language at the University of Dhaka. He is also the Director of the Institute of Modern Languages, University of Dhaka. An ardent advocate and promoter of the Bengali language, he has written extensively on the use of Bengali in Bangladesh. He translated works of Guillaume Apollinaire, Arthur Rimbaud, and Bernard-Henri Lévy into Bengali and poems of Jibanananda Das into French.

Education and career

Born in Sitakunda, Chattogram, he completed bachelor's and master's degrees in Indology and linguistics at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle. He received his PhD from the University of Montreal, Canada. He did his post-doctorate at the Institute of State Language at the University of Tokyo. In 1989, Bhattacharja joined Dhaka University, where he is, at present, the director of the Institute of Modern Languages. Accused of making hateful remarks against Islam and Muslims, as well as derogatory comments about victims of so called anti-discrimination movements, a group of Dhaka University students protested in front of the vice-chancellor's residence on December 12, demanding his dismissal.

Selected works

In Bengali

Ishwar Dharma Bishwas Samaj Sangskriti Shilpakala Bangla Byakaraner Ruparekha Bangla Bhasha: Prakrita Samasya o Peshadari Samadhan Ja Kichu Byakaran Nay Antaranga Byakaran Uchit Shiksha Bishwabidyalayer Itihas: Adiparba
  • ''Jatrapala Chandragupta kingba Khamatasastrer Sohoj Path''

Translations

Bangladesh Jakhan Swadhin Hacchila, a Bengali translation of Bernard-Henri Lévy's Bangla-Desh, Nationalisme dans la révolution Rimbaud: Nirbachita Kabita ebang Patrabali

In English

  • ''Word Formation in Bengali: A Whole Word Morphological Description and its Theoretical Implications''

In French

Bhagwan et son monde orange
  • ''La poésie contemporaine du Bangladesh