‘Study on Exiled or Banned
writers and their selected works in disposal to cultural paradigms’
Two major texts- Taslima Nasrin – Lajja, Saadat Hasan Manto – Khol Do, Dan Brown – Da Vinci Code (Precisely)
Abstract:
“A literary
work must be an ice axe to break the sea frozen inside us.”
-
Franz
Kafka.
Literature is not always about what one praises; it
is more about those truths which are still covered under many layers of lies
and disbeliefs and when a writer unwrap those layers, the sensibilities of
people gets hurt. The reaction then comes is to ban that critical or artistic
work, withal force that writer or artist to leave his country and live an exile
life because, people can’t handle the truths in easier way as well they can’t
deal with truth- givers.
There is always a belief that a writer’s pen is
never inferior to a warrior’s sward. Because a true writer reveals the facts,
never paint another layer on it. It mostly happens when a writer deconstructs
the traditional ideas and tries to build a logical argument; at that point most
probable time the religious as well the cultural values are challenged by that
author.
Many such writers and artists have tried to reform
the cultural and traditional as well religious values of the society with
picking up their pens and brushes, so they were quite not accepted by the
people and also were re-challenged by the political power or religious
authorities!
Out of those, few selective writers are discussed
here in this research paper-work.
Key words:
Literature- with more bitter truth
Ban- which is a forceful act to prohibit something
by authority (can be political, religious as well social or cultural).
Exiled- Exile is not always what an individual is
forced to leave his countries, but also when they are implied to stop doing
what they do while living in that nation. Sometimes it is self implemented by
that person to stop doing the thing because of unacceptability.
Introduction
Definition of the word
literature tends to be circular. The 11th edition of Merriam-
Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary considers literature to be “writing having
excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal
interest.” The 19th century critic Walter Pater referred to “the
matter of imaginative or artistic literature” as a “transcript, not of mere
fact, but of fact in its infinitely varied forms.” Literature may be classified
according to a variety of systems, including language, national origin,
historical period, genre, and subject matter. (Rexroth)
As we can say literature is
mirror of the society, it reflects social pathos, its hierarchical structure,
cultural values as well political affairs and religious importance; it also
reflects human interrelationships as well historical truths. That is why it is
believed that literature is truly a depiction of social or cultural as well
political paradigms of specific era.
But, literature is not
always about what one praises; it is more about those truths which are still
covered under many layers of lies and disbeliefs. As Franz Kafka says, “A
literary work must be an ice axe to break the sea frozen inside us.”
Literature should be more
truthful and candid. As one said “it should be a hammer stroke”, which can
shape the society. But when a writer tries to deconstruct those old ideas or
historical truths withal unwraps those deep layers then they become quite
unaccepted by the people.
Numerous times it happens
that these paradigms are challenged or re challenged by several authors and
artists along with people’s sensibilities gets hurt when it happens. Then the
outcome is those writers or artists are banned to read as well they are no more
allowed to publish their critical or artistic works. Several times it happens that those are force
to leave their country and live an exile life in some host land. Exile is not
always when one forced to leave his country, but also when they are implied to
stop doing what they do while living in that nation. Sometimes it is self implemented
by that person to stop doing the thing because of unacceptability. Here we can
refer that,
“People
can’t handle the truths in easier way as well they cannot deal with truth-
givers.”
Research:
Banning in broad-spectrum:
If we glance on banning the
things, now-a-days has become a propensity. It is not that it is trend of
contemporary world. It has been started in very earlier time. Apart from
literature banning is happened in normal life as well. Most probable time
prohibitions are implied on women. Like in mosques, similarly in many other
temples women are not allowed to enter. Moreover, outfits of the women are more
criticized. As recently in France, at Parish there is fatwa on ‘Burquinies’.
France had put a ban on wearing buruinies, which is a swimming suit designed
for Muslim women and it covers the body completely, on its beaches on the basis
that it was against the laws of secularism. Thus, it is not that the banning is
happening only in third world countries it is as well a part of first world countries.
There are some major
concerns of making things banned:
In literature there are few
renowned writers who were banned under some fastidious reasons for their
specific work:
The history of book banning
reflects the history of social fear, communal or religious fear likewise
political.
1. Taslima Nasrin banned for
‘Lajja’: Communal/religious concern.
Taslima Nasrin was born to
Rajab Ali and Edul Ara in town of Mymensingh, on 25 Aug, 1962. She Is a
Bangladeshi Author. She is gynecologist by her education. However, she became
an atheist over time. In course of writing she took feminist approach. Early in
her literary career, she wrote mainly poetry between 1982 and 1993. But, in
1993 novel ‘Lajja’ or ‘Shame’ (in English), in which a Hindu family is
fighting against Muslims. This publication changed her life and career
dramatically. (Thakar)
Throughout this Novel Nasrin
has not only a satire on Bangladeshi Muslim Community but also satires on
Indian Hindu Community; who thinks of those minority groups of Muslim in India
and not for those Hindus who are as well in minority at other neighboring
countries: Bangladesh and Pakistan.
‘Lajja’ opens with 6th
December 1992 on the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, India. In reaction
to that Muslims of Bangladesh becomes violent in their nation and Muslim mobs
begin to seek out and attack the Hindus of Bangladesh. The Duttas- Sudhamoy, Kironmoyee,
and their two children, Suranjan and Nilanjana (Maya); who are living in
Bangladesh all their lives. However, the fire of communal rioting erupts, and
Dutta family feels and faces the heat of the communal hatred. Each member of
the family feels about this in his/ her own ways. Despite of being part of the
country’s small Hindu Community that is terrorized at every opportunity by
Muslim Fundamentalists, they refuse to leave their country, as most of their
friends and relatives have done. In fact whenever Sudhamoy advices to shift to
the India he says, “One should feel shame even to think of leaving his own
country or a homeland.” Sudhamoy, an
atheist, believes with a native mix of optimism and idealism that his
motherland will not let him down. Each day they are finding more difficulties there,
the Muslim mobs are abolishing numerous Hindu temples, burnt houses of Hindu
families, raps Hindu women and somewhere also left them to burn alive with
those houses, they do loot and also burn the Indian embassy withal holler out
the cruel slogans like, “Ak d(
*hnd$ wir(, s_bih siimi niistii kr(”.
Suranjan who is in love with
one Muslim girl Parveen could not marry her because of their religious differences
and Maya who is also in love with one Muslim boy Haider, leaves her home to
save her life and decided to go to her Muslim lover; who also first beat off
and then raped later she killed by one Muslim mob of seven or eight people. Suranjan
also throw his outburst, his anger and his frustration through raping a Muslim
woman (who is a prostitute). He does this desperately because he thinks that a
Hindu knows how to rap a woman, they are equally capable to rap a Muslim woman
as Muslims are doing with Hindu women. Then even he feels restless and shame on
his deed.
This novel has very
pessimistic end; by the end of the novel Sudhamoy convinced to go to India. He
accepts to leave his own country, his homeland in very disgraceful tone. Through,
which Nasrin reflects the worst condition of minority among majority; they are
never accepted by people in majority.
One of the main thematic
orientation of the novel is around the concept of women – their position, their
integrity, the moral responsibility of the society towards them, and their
victimization at the hand of men who treat women similarly as they treat their
lands, reducing them to mere objects and properties. (ter) The condition of
women whether she is Hindu or Muslim, a woman suffers the most whenever this
type of riots happens. Thus ‘The Shame’ lies not in rapping women only, but
taking women as the easiest target for crude physical satiation in the name of
religion and ideologies. (ter)
Nasrin takes the pain to
keep a record of numerous newspaper articles, incorporate them within the
narrative to show the shame, the “Lajja” of humanity. (ter) Therefore, Nasrin
suffered a number of physical and other attacks following the publication of
Lajja. She had written against Islamic Philosophy, angering many Muslims of
Bangladesh, who called for a ban on her novel. In October 1993, a radical
fundamentalist group called the Council of Islamic Soldiers offered a bounty
for her death. She claims for abolition of ‘Sharia (the religious laws based on
the Koran that Muslims follows)’, A few hundred or thousand demonstrators called
her “an apostate appointed by imperial force of vilify Islam”. At the end of
1994 she was exiled from her own country ‘Bangladesh’.
As Mahesh Dattani in his
play “Final Solution”, deals with same issue of communal priorities according
majority and minority. The situation is bit different here; he depicts the
worst situation of Muslims among Hindu Majority. By the end of the play he puts
one insignia, which represents there is no final solution for communal
problems.
One appropriate quote, which
is spoken by Taslima Nasrin in ‘Lajja’, is,
“Peace
is the ultimate goal of all religions but even at the end of this century we
continue to see how religion is the cause of much strife, bloodshed and
disgrace among human beings. Nothing but the flag of religion can crush beings
and human emotions so completely.”
2. Sadat Hasan Manto banned for
‘Khol Do’: social/cultural concern
Manto born on may 11, 1912.
In Panjab, British India and died on Jan 18, 1955; at the age of 42 in Lahor,
Panjab, at Pakistan, (his nationality was ‘Pakistani’). He was a novelist,
playwright, essayist, screen writer and short story writer, and a keen observer
of the society in which he lived. Unlike many others, Manto does not see the
perpetrators as Hindu or Muslim, Hindustanis or Pakistanis, he just sees and
depicts them as human beings with all their wilderness and barbarity.
Manto chronicled the chaos
that prevailed, during and after the partition of India in 1947. He started his
literary career translating work of literary giants, such as Victor Hugo, Oscar
Wilde and Russian writers such as Chekhov and Gorky. His first story was
“Tamasha”, based on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre at Amritsar. Though his
earlier works, influenced by the progressive writers of his times, showed a
marked leftist and socialist leaning, his later work progressively became stark
in portraying the darkness of the human psyche, as humanist values
progressively declined around the partition.
Saadat Hasan Manto is often
compared with D. H. Lawrence, partly because he wrote about taboos of Indo-
Pakistani society. His concerns on the socio- political issues, from local to
global are revealed in his series.
“Khol Do” is one of the most
famous and controversial stories of Manto. It is one of the masterpieces
depicting the effects of violence during the partition of India on the people
of the land.
“Khol Do” is depiction of women endangerment in
Pakistan; it was time of 1947 when Pakistan had become a free nation. Sirajuddin
who recently lost his wife who is no more alive; whereas his daughter ‘Sakina’
is lost somewhere in crowd of screaming men, women and children. She is
extremely beautiful girl of seventeen. A father asks for a help to a squad of
few young army men who were having guns on their shoulders, they console him
that they will find his daughter. After some days when Sirajuddin found some
sudden activity was happening in army camp. He saw four men were carrying the
body of a young girl found unconscious near the railway tracks. They were
taking her to camp hospital. He followed them. He stood outside the hospital
for a while then he went in. In one of the rooms, he found a stretcher with
someone lying on it.
A light was switched on. It was a young woman with a mole on
her left cheek. “Sakina!” Sirajuddin
screamed.
“I am her
father,” he stammered. The doctor looked at the prostrate body and
felt for the pulse. Then he said to the old man, “Open the window.”
The young woman on stretcher moved slightly. Her hands
groped for the cord which kept her salwar tied around her waist. With painful
slowness, she unfastened it, pulled the garment down and opened her things.
“She is
alive. My daughter is alive,” Sirajuddin shouted with joy. The
doctor broke into a cold sweat.
Shocked… to think of what
would have happened to a girl of 17, who just hearing “Khol do” opens down her
salwar in spontaneous reflex, shocked with the capacity of Manto to see,
perceive, and depict the truth as naked as it is, shocked with the courage of a
writer to write such a self-critical thing (those boys were on his side of the
border)… And the government charged Saadat Hasan Manto for the charges of
pornography.
Manto was banned for using
sexuality and naked language in his stories. Few critics also considered him as
‘vulgar’. Manto used to say that,
“If
you find my stories dirty, the society you are living is dirty. With my
stories, I expose only truth.”
He further included,
“If
you cannot bear these stories then the society is unbearable. Who am I to
remove the clothes of this society, which itself is naked. I don’t even try to
cover it, because it is not my job, that’s the job of dressmakers.”
3
Dan
Brown banned for ‘The Da Vinci Code’ (precisely): religious/patriarchal
concern.
Daniel "Dan" Brown, best-selling
author of 'The Da Vinci Code' was born on June 22, 1964, is an American author
of thriller fiction. He is influenced by Leonardo da Vinci, William Shakespeare, Sidney
Seldom, Harlan Coben, and Robert Ludlum.
Controversy on ‘Da Vinci Code’:
In Brown’s novel, the ‘Da
Vinci Code’ refers to cryptic messages supposedly incorporated by Leonardo Da
Vinci into his artwork. According to the novel, Leonardo was a member of an
ancient secret society called the “Priory
of Sion.”
Brown directly attacks on
the deep root of Christianity. He in his novel shows the ‘blood line’ of
Jesus Christ. His message was about the celebration of the “sacred feminine,” that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. It
also attacks on root of ‘Patriarchy’
in the society. Thus, it avoids Jesus as a divinity and considered him as a
mortal.
It has created biggest controversy
in U.S.A. People were abused him and thrown stones at his house. They burnt
books of his novel on streets. It shows their insecurity toward their
patriarchal paradigms, which were unwrapped by Brown in his novel. This riot
happens under religious as well socio- cultural and patriarchal insecurities.
But, “Those who banned by the people for
their critical works, they read the most by the people.”
Those who were banned once
upon a time, we considers them as classic now; those who were abused and
unaccepted by people in their lifetime, later admires a lot by people.
‘Lajja’
by Taslima Nasrin, later translated into many languages, not only in various
Indian languages but also in: French, Dutch, German, English, Spanish, Italian,
Norwegian, Finnish, Icelandic, Persian, and Arabic as so. (htt10)
She
won near about 39 awards from deferent countries. Few of them are,
- Anand Purskar,
India, 1992
- Natyasava Award,
Bangladesh, 1992
- Sakharov Prize
for Freedom of Thoughts from the European Parliament, 1994
- Human Rights
Award from the Government of France, 1994
Manto who was not read
throughout his life time. He became a quite popular after his death and 60
years after his death, Manto still continues to haunts us with a strange and
morbid relish.
Dan Brown’s novel ‘Da Vinci
Code’ banned for its decoding of secrets of Christianity. Though he became
best-seller for selling more than 3 million copies, then over 40 million were
in print. Later it also converted into movie version by Ron Howard (an American
well-known director).
Summing up:
I have tried to justify the
topic with my limited knowledge and I arouse at the conclusion that at some
extent I slightly not agree to those people who do not accept the reality the
way it is. Reality always remains harsh and bitter. Manto in response to a
court judge said that,
“A
writer picks up his pen only when his sensibility is hurt.”
There is one saying that “when one learns to self critiquing,
the reformation of individual or a nation can be pave a new way of progress.”
But,
whenever it happens it has brought chaoses among civilians. Whenever one tried
to self critiquing or deconstruct those ancient ideas, historical truths or
pathos or else tried to depict the social realities they are roughly treated by
their own people rather give them chance to put their argument they are banned
to read as well force to leave their country and roam for the shelter. They are
taken away the platform which they disserve perhaps. It suggests nothing than
that people are still slave of their mentality and doesn’t want to detach their
clutches from their fake stubbornness.
As Manto had rightly said
that,
“Hindustan
had become free. Pakistan had become independent soon after its inception but
man was still slave both these countries—slave of Prejudices… slave of
religious fanaticism… slave of barbarity and inhumanity.”
It happens everywhere not
only in Hindustan or Pakistan. Whenever the authority is challenged by any
individual or a group they are re- challenged by those authorities weather it
is social or cultural, political or religious. To draw a new line doesn’t mean
that it tries to remove previous as well it is the truth that whenever a new
line up to drawn the previous is vanished, but all have that fear is to lose
their identity which they have constructed.
Everyone has their own
perception of truth, as Jalaluddin Rumi
said,
“The
truth was a mirror in the hands of God. It fell, and broke into pieces.
Everybody took a piece of it, and they looked at it and thought they had the
truth.”
I want to end my discussion
with still some questions! For their answers I am at a standstill in dilemma, I
am still in quest.
1) Why in Democratic Nation one is forced
to suppress his/her voice?
2) Why people cannot accept the change or
different point of view by other one?
3) When we try to be detached completely
with those old clutches of which we have become self- slave?
Apart from Discourse:
Some other writers and
artists who were also become part of controversies:
Writer or Artist
|
Their Name
|
Their work form
|
Their Work/ Works
|
Reason/s of banning
|
‘Concern’ relates
|
Writer
|
D.H.Lawrence
|
Novel
|
‘Sons and Lovers’
|
Depiction of
Oedipus complex
|
Social or Cultural
|
Writer
|
Toni Morrison
|
Novel
|
‘Be loved’
|
Depiction of
sexuality
|
Social or Cultural
|
Writer
|
Salman Rushdie
|
Novel
|
‘Satanic Verses’
|
---------
|
Religious
|
Artist
|
Raja Ravi Varma
|
Paintings
|
Paintings of God
and Goddesses, as well apsaras form Mahabharata and Ramayana.
|
Depiction of
Sexuality, and Nudity
|
Religious as well
Social or Cultural
|
Few movies which became part
of imbroglio (controversy) in between 2013 to 2016
Movie
Names
|
Year
of Banned & Release
|
Concern
of Banning
|
Ram-
Leela
|
2013,
India
|
Communal
concern
|
Bajirao-
Mastani
|
2015,
India
|
Historical
concern
|
P.
K.
|
2014,
India
|
Religious
concern
|
Rang
Rasiya, (depicting life of Raja Ravi Varma)
|
2014,
India
|
Social/
Cultural concern, Religious concern
|
Works Cited
<http://www.dailyo.in/arts/saadat-hasan-manto-india-pak-urdu-bombay-lahore-obscenity-muhammad-umar-memon-my-name-is-radha/story/1/6086.html>.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taslima_Nasrin>.
<http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/263878.Saadat_Hasan_Manto>.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saadat_Hasan_Manto>.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taslima_Nasrin>.
<terrainsandtropes.wordpress.com/201...>.
5- reasons-raja0-ravi-varma-king-controversies. 10 september 2016
<https://www.friedeye.com/freshfries/5-reasons-raja-ravi-varma-king-controversies/>.
Rexroth, Kenneth. Britannica.comLiterature. 10
september 2016.
Sarkar, Munmun. "Lajja." Nasrin, Taslima. Lajja.
New Delhi: Hindi Vani Prakashan, 2013. 17.
Thakar, Jayti.
<http://www.slideshare.net/JaytiThakar94/study-on-exiled-or-banned-writers-in-respect-to-cultural-studieshttp://www.slideshare.net/JaytiThakar94/study-on-exiled-or-banned-writers-in-respect-to-cultural-studies>.
Urduwallahs in Urdu Musings, Urdu Poetry and Texts.
"Khol Do- Saadat Hasan Manto." Khol Do- Open It. Urduwallahs
, 02 August 2014.
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