Taslima Nasrin, Lajja [Shame]

Rama Islam (Metropolitan University (Zindabazar))

Ed. by Niaz Zaman, Independent University Bangladesh
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.3.2: Pakistani and Bangladeshi Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Claire Gallien (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3), Sarker Hasan Al Zayed (Independent University Bangladesh), Pavan Kumar Malreddy (J W Goethe University of Frankfurt), Delphine Munos (Université de Liège), Muneeza Shamsie (Independent Scholar - Asia), Niaz Zaman (Independent University Bangladesh)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1993

Places

Bangladesh (Country of Origin; Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Taslima Nasrin’s Lajja was published in 1993 and translated into English by Tutul Gupta as Shame in 1994. Written in the wake of the demolition of the sixteenth-century Babri Masjid in 1992, the novel depicts the atrocities of Bangladeshi Muslim fundamentalists against the Hindu minority of the country. One of the principles of the Bangladesh constitution is secularism, and it is is therefore committed to communal harmony where people from four communities – Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian – live peacefully. After the 1947 Partition, however, there have been several eruptions of hostility against Hindus, and Nasrin draws attention to the intolerance of the anti-Hindu riots. As a result, Lajja was banned and Nasrin received death threats from Islamic groups.

Nasrin

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1826 words

Citation: Islam, Rama. "Lajja". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 December 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39299, accessed 11 December 2023.]

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