Statement of Purpose

Being a Bengali medium student, choosing English literature as a major in my undergraduate

program became a challenging phase of my academic pursuit. At the advent of the journey, while
I was getting used to detecting the distant and mythical world of ‘old and middle English’
literature, the following several years’ academic pursuit in this field made me redefine the term
‘literature’ as a whole. A wide array of genres and authors from different continents along with
various historical timeframes let me access to a room to ‘think’ rather than approach things from
a linear framework. My perception about the symbiotic relationship between literature, culture
and theory geared up a strong foundation for me to generate my intellectual interest.

Yes, I must confess that my choice was not wrong. When coming into the professional life,
university teaching became my first priority to assure my inclination for learning and intellectual
upbringing. Of particular interest to me was South Asian Fiction with its postcolonial trajectory
which is always embedded with history and culture in the context of South Asian realities.
However, it was my last semester course conduct with 3rd year students on ‘Bangladeshi Writing
in English’ consisting of the writings of Bangladeshi literary figures basically the texts published
in 21st century which navigated my idea into a new turn. Surprisingly, the difficulties that I faced
initially were not only the scarcity of secondary sources but also the unavailability of primary
books and such a state caused the mapping of the course lesson troublesome. Also, I noticed a
handful inclusion of Bangladeshi writing in English in the academia and they are comparatively
less recognized/unrecognized even in their local and national arena despite having a considerable
extent of its own. I thereupon found myself questioning the reasons behind this reality.

In relation to this thought, the intricate relationship between Bangladeshi writing in English and
theories of postcolonialism came into my focus which has genuinely a potential to be explored
extensively in the “Anglo-American Academy” (Majumder 417). The genealogy of Bangladeshi
Anglophone literature expands through several historical segments corresponding to different
political identity known as Bengal, East Pakistan and Bangladesh consecutively. Writing in
English of this region also evolved in its content and discourses with the political evolution. All
through the phases of colonial, post-partition and post-independence, writings in English
proceeded with Bengali and Bangladeshi writers both from home and abroad. In course of time,
it has advanced more and its consistency is going on till date. But the field is yet to be acclaimed
by academics; little substantial research has been conducted from scholarly perspectives. In this
light, my research anticipates to conceptualize the narratives related to the term postcolonialism/
[Post] post-colonialism and its articulation in the literary productions by writers from
Bangladeshi origin. It might validate and enquire issues such as 1. Can ‘Bangladeshi writing in
English’ as a field occupy a distinct place and a space in global literature encountering Fredric
Jameson’s “third world literature”? 2. Do the diaspora authors’ attempt of presenting native
country place them in a state of “social invisibility”? 3. How do the works by Bangladeshi
authors form the dichotomy of ‘self’ and ‘other’? 4. What acceptance do they acquire, their
agency and voice—in the host country and other spaces? Considering all these factors in mind,
my research will proceed based on qualitative research method where postcolonialism and [Post]
post-colonial will play the role of both critical and theoretical notes.

Honestly speaking, the way undergraduate studies get exposure in our country’s academic
atmosphere, the scope and possibility of higher studies are much neglected. Such reason makes
me prompt to go beyond my national boundary so that I can be in search of widespread
knowledge to enhance my intellectual interest through workshops, seminars, screenings,
exchanging views with experts of the respective field etc. Thus, in order to embellish my
academic and professional excellences, I eagerly feel for pursuing a PhD in English of an
international standard. As I follow the activities of English Department of Northern Illinois
University, I intend to be a part of such vibrant academic atmosphere to ensure the fullest use of
my literary stances as well as to get introduced to the latest theoretical trajectories which
challenge and deconstruct the existing with a new notion keeping the thought of window open
for all. Moreover, I came to know about the academic potentials of NIU from one of my
colleagues who is currently pursuing his graduate studies there. Therefore, I am applying for
PhD in NIU’s English Department under the college of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
A Golden Age (Bangladesh #1) by
Tahmima Anam

Dear Husband,
I lost our children today.

What an opening line. Tahmima Anam’s A Golden Age plunges you right into the twin events that form the
basis of Rehana’s character as a parent, fiercely protective and determined to have them near her.
Dear Husband,
Our children are no longer our children.

The death of her husband and her fight to keep her children, when her dead husband’s brother and his childless
wife claim they could take better care of them.

The first chapter begins with that day in 1959 when the court gives custody to her brother and sister-in-law,
who live in Lahore, (West Pakistan) over 1000 miles and an expensive flight away from Dhaka (East
Pakistan).

The novel then jumps forward and is set in 1971, in Dhaka, the year of its war of independence, when East
separated from West Pakistan and became Bangladesh (when you look at the area on a map, they are
geographically separate, with no common border, India lies between them).
In 1971, Rehana’s children, Maya and Sohail are university students and back living with their mother after
she discovered a way of becoming financially independent without having to remarry. Despite her efforts to
protect them, she is unable to stop them becoming involved in the events of the revolution, her son joining a
guerrilla group of freedom fighters and her daughter leaving for Calcutta to write press releases and work in
nearby refugee camps.

He’ll never make a good husband, she heard Mrs Chowdhury say. Too much politics.

The comment had stung because it was probably true. Lately the children had little time for anything but the
struggle. It had started when Sohail entered the university. Ever since ’48, the Pakistani authorities had ruled
the eastern wing of the country like a colony. First they tried to force everyone to speak Urdu instead of
Bengali. They took the jute money from Bengal and spent it on factories in Karachi and Islamabad. One
general after another made promises they had no intention of keeping. The Dhaka university students had been
involved in the protests from the very beginning, so it was no surprise Sohail had got caught up, Maya too.
Even Rehana could see the logic: what sense did it make to have a country in two halves, posed on either side
of India like a pair of horns?

Rather than lose her children again, Rehana supports them and their cause, finding herself on the opposite side
of a conflict to her disapproving family who live in West Pakistan.

As she recited the pickle recipe to herself, Rehana wondered what her sisters would make of her at this very
moment. Guerillas at Shona. Sewing kathas on the rooftop. Her daughter at rifle practice. The thought of their
shocked faces made her want to laugh.She imagined the letter she would write. Dear sisters, she would say.
Our countries are at war; yours and mine. We are on different sides now. I am making pickles for the war
effort. You see how much I belong here and not to you.

Anam follows the lives of one family and their close neighbours, illustrating how the historical events of that
year affected people and changed them. It is loosely based on a similar story told to the author by her
grandmother who had been a young widow for ten years already, when the war arrived.
When I first sat down to write A Golden Age, I imagined a war novel on an epic scale. I imagined battle
scenes, political rallies, and the grand sweep of history. But after having interviewed more than a hundred
survivors of the Bangladesh War for Independence, I realised it was the very small details that always stayed
in my mind- the guerilla fighters who exchanged shirts before they went into battle, the women who sewed
their best silk saris into blankets for the refugees. I realised I wanted to write a novel about how ordinary
people are transformed by war, and once I discovered this, I turned to the story of my maternal grandmother,
Mushela Islam, and how she became a revolutionary.
It’s a fabulous and compelling novel of a family disrupted by war, thrown into the dangers of standing up for
what they believe is right, influenced by love, betrayed by jealousies and of a young generation’s desire to be
part of the establishment of independence for the country they love.

It is also the first novel in the Bangladesh trilogy, the story continues in the books I will be reading next The
Good Muslim and the recently published The Bones of Grace.

Department of English; MTT2 on ENG 421; Session 2018-2019; Marks 10; Time: 30 minutes
Read the following excerpts and answer the questions that follow:
1. The room is still, smoke filled. The only sound is the occasional thud of Alison’s iron on
the board. It is one of those chilly Spring Evening, all cloud and shadows.

a. What does the room in smoke stand for? 1

b. What is the significance of Alison’s association with iron board? 2
c. Explain the phrase “chilly Spring Evening” in the context of Look Back in Anger? 3

2. You’re hurt because everything is changed. Jimmy is hurt because everything is the
same. And neither of you can face it. Something’s gone wrong somewhere, hasn’t it?

a. Who is the speaker of this dialogue and who is he/she speaking to? 1
b. What’s the wrong poses them (the person addressed and Jimmy) in the same stand.
Explain.3
Department of English; MTT1 on ENG 324; Session 2019-2020; Marks 10; Time: 30 minutes
Read the following stanza and answer the questions that follow:
“What are we to do, Mr. Vidal?
Stop, writing, and if we do, not publish?
Join an immigration queue, hoping
To head for the Diaspora dead-end,
Exhibit in alien multicultural museums?”
1. What is the tone of the stanza? 1
2. Cite the name of the poem and its poet. 2
3. Who is Mr. Vidal? why does the poet refer him to the writing and publishing of books? 3
4. Is the speaker accepting the inclusion in multicultural web? why/why not?4