Global Journal of Human-Social Science, A: Arts and Humanities, Volume 22 Issue 4

Liton Chakraborty Mithun © 2022 Global Journals Volume XXII Issue IV Version I 21 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 A 59 Author: Lecturer, Department of English Language and Literature, Central Women’s University , Dhaka, Bangladesh. e-mail: lcmithun12@gmail.com An Ecocritical Reading of Syed Manzoorul Islam’s Shakuner Dana Abstract- Like other countries across the globe, Bangladesh is also experiencing an environmental turn in literature. Eco- fictio n and climate fiction are the new avatars of contemporary literature with a particular focus on ecological concerns. This kind of literature is on the rise as the world grapples with ‘climate emergency’, a new entry in Oxford Dictionaries. The governing theme and subject-matter of such literature pertain to the environment, which has encountered severe challenges causing a massive threat to the existence of humans and non- humans alike. In addition, the eco-focused literature highlights the degradation of biodiversity at local and global levels. Similarly, environmental pollution is a common feature of almost any global discourse including literary studies. Besides, global warming is a buzzword occupying a huge space in academic discussions. As a branch of humanities, literature responds to such phenomena through evocative storytelling informed by scientific facts and suggestions. The latest theoretical school namely, ecocriticism studies the environment in all its manifestations and nuances available as an active and evocative force in literature. The insights of ecocriticism will be applied in this paper to analyze a Bangla language novel titled Shakuner Dana (Wings of the Vulture) (2013) written by the Bangladeshi writer Syed Manzoorul Islam. Keywords: eco-fiction; environmental degradation; environmental justice; ecocriticism; ecofeminism; Bangladeshi eco-fiction. I. I ntroduction he Bangladeshi novelist Syed Manzoorul Islam’s eco-fictional novel Shakuner Dana (2013) has environmental concerns at its core. The novel centers around a proposed development project to be financed by a global money-lending agency and actively supported by several local and multinational stakeholders readying themselves to draw their interests out of it. This project is supposed to develop a haor (a large, landlocked water body typical of north-eastern Bangladesh) area. The undertaking is christened the CMB Project after the initials of three adjacent areas: Chandipur, Mahiganj, and Bhadartek. The local NGO, commissioned to assess the feasibility of the project through ground level surveys and case studies, deliberately hides the environmental effects the project may cause and doctors its findings. It seeks to cover up several loopholes in its research work. This money- minded organization prepares concocted reports discounting environmental issues, biodiversity, and T potential dangers for local communities. Similarly, the evil elements in the political dispensation and different local interest groups, either together or in separate ways, become active to ensure the project is undertaken and they can make quick profits. However, Orin—a research team member of the NGO— primarily out of her intuitions and also under the influence of a Dutch environmental expert named Von Hoffman, who has been initially sent by the sponsoring Global Money- Lender (used as a catch-all term for all highly influential international money-lending agencies) to the area for assessing environmental aspects of the enterprise, sniffs the shortcomings, loopholes, and fraudulence underlying the whole affairs. She manages to conduct her private research by allying with a local family and discovers all of this conspiracy. The findings of her research motivate her to launch environmental activism that resonates with the local commoners themselves, already anxious about the CMB project. Orin goes on to mobilize a mass movement, with Dhaka-based media coming forward and local and environment-conscious urban people joining hands together to neutralize the evil enterprise. The political and corporate opportunists willing to make money out of the project receive a massive setback, and the whole area is safeguarded from an ensuing manufactured disaster. All of these matters are subject of study of the current article, which seeks to explore and appreciate different ecocritical aspects that underpin the storyline, themes, contents and messages of the book Shakuner Dana by Syed Manzoorul Islam. Since the book is originally written in Bengali/Bangla and no English translation is available as yet, all textual references/portions will appear in my translation. II. W hat is E cocriticism? As mentioned earlier, ecocriticism examines the environment in its diversity in a given text. This school of criticism is a relatively recent phenomenon in academic practices. There are a variety of opinions concerning its definition, scope, and effectiveness. According to Glotfelty (1996), ecocriticism ‘is the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment (xix).’ She also says, ‘ecocriticism takes an earth-centered approach to literary studies (ibid).’ To outline its area of operations, Richard Kerridge in his book Writing the Environment (1998) says, ‘Most of all, ecocriticism seeks to evaluate texts and ideas in terms