There is a firm belief among the common readers that Sarat Chandra is the best novelist of all times in Bengali literature. "Best" and "most popular" are not the same thing. No doubt, the latter adjective applies to both Sarat and Humayun. On the question of "best", even the serious literary critics will have diverse opinions. Mahashweta Devi was once asked who, in her opinion, are the best novelists. Sarat is not one of them, but Satinath Bhaduri is. How many Bengali readers have read Satinath? According to one academic critic, Rabindranath's "Gora" is one of the best novels of all times in the whole world. According to Sunil the so called best novels in Bengali are over burdened with debates and thereby cannot be treated as fine novels. "Gora", "Shesh Proshno", etc. are among them. Humayun Ahmed had a grievance in his mind that his teacher Showkat Osman never mentioned him when discussing Bengali literature. One prominent Bengali novelist said that Humayun's novels are like "lungi" which you can wear at home only. One may smell professional jealousy in such a remark.
One may remember that there was a time when Niharranjan Gupta was one of the most popular novelists in the then East Pakistan and this trend continued even in Bangladesh. Obviously Sarat was also one them. The readers usually had least interest in novels written by East Pakistani novelists no matter how good they were quality wise. Humayun Ahmed through his reader friendly writings and dramas based on his stories has changed the mindset of the readers in both the Bengals. We are grateful to him. Like Sunil he is also the most commercially successful writer and we have to admit that there is a trade-off between commercial success and quality. This rule applies even to the most talented writers and obviously Humayun was one of them.
My personal opinion is that Sunil's ranking of Humayun above Sarat has been driven by both emotion and judiciousness. Humayun has produced nothing, absolutely nothing, that is comparable to "Srikanto", "Shesh Proshno", "Choritroheen", etc. Even Syed Shamsul Huq's "Khelaram Khele jaa" is a great piece compared to Humayun's novels.
"Kesher aare pahar lukay."---Lalon. Too much obsession with Humayun will make us lose sight of the great literary geniuses like Syed Waliullah (probably one of the top ten among the Bengali novelists of all times), Showkat Osmam, Syed Shamsul Huque, Akhtaruzzaman Ilias, Showkat Ali, Nasrin Jahan---just to mention a few. We need to encourage serious literature.
From: Farida Majid <farida_majid@hotmail.com>
To: "mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 6:10 PM
Subject: RE: [mukto-mona] Fw: [Alapon] Writer Humayun Ahmed dies in NY
To: "mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 6:10 PM
Subject: RE: [mukto-mona] Fw: [Alapon] Writer Humayun Ahmed dies in NY
http://www.bd-pratidin.com/?view=details&type=gold&data=Sports&pub_no=482&cat_id=1&menu_id=1&news_type_id=1&index=1 Hope you read the piece by Sunil Gangopadhya who says Humayun Ahmed's position as a fiction writer (kothashilpi) in Bangla is above that of Sharotchandra Chattopadhya. That is a huge compliment! I know Sunil-da and I know that he is an honest and serious litterateur. I respect his opinion on Humayun Ahmed. Farida Majid
To: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com From: kamalctgu@gmail.com Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2012 07:26:37 +0600 Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] Fw: [Alapon] Writer Humayun Ahmed dies in NY
Humayun Ahmed was a good friend of mine for twenty years,1974-93. His literature was mediocre, but he earned enviable popularity. I am sure he would be remembered for a while.
On Fri, Jul 20, 2012 at 5:20 AM, Jiten Roy <jnrsr53@yahoo.com> wrote:
--- On Thu, 7/19/12, Morshed, Adnan Z <morshed@cua.edu> wrote:
From: Morshed, Adnan Z <morshed@cua.edu>
Subject: [Alapon] Writer Humayun Ahmed dies in NY
To: "alapon@yahoogroups.com" <alapon@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Thursday, July 19, 2012, 2:56 PM
Writer Humayun Ahmed is no more..... http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?id=228520&cid=2 ________________________________
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