Shahidul Zahir

Sarker Hasan Al Zayed (Independent University Bangladesh)

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

Born 11 Sep 1953
Died 23 Mar 2008

Places

Born in Bangladesh
Active in Bangladesh

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Story-writer

Resources

Zahir's Works

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Shahidul Zahir (1953-2008) is often considered as the foremost writer among the generation of post-Liberation War Bangladeshi authors of the 1970s. Best known for his experimental works that blend together magic realist and postmodernist techniques with acutely political thematic content, Zahir created a fictional universe whose accents and inflections were distinctively his own. His oeuvre consists of just four novels and three collections of short stories, but its influence on succeeding generations of aspiring writers has been immense. Like Syed Waliullah, Hasan Azizul Huq, and Akhtaruzzaman Elias before him, Zahir has created a legacy of his own – one that is both distinctive and oppositional.

Zahir was named Shahidul Haque at birth by his father – a name he continued to carry

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3024 words

Citation: Hasan Al Zayed, Sarker. "Shahidul Zahir". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 February 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14649, accessed 31 October 2024.]