Items related to The Wonders of Vilayet
In 1765, Mirza Sheikh I tesamuddin, a Bengali secretary employed by the East India Company, traveled on a mission to Britain to seek protection for the Mogul emperor Shah Alam II. The mission was aborted by the greed and duplicity of Robert Clive, but it resulted in this remarkable account of the Mirza s travels in Britain and Europe. This is an entertaining, unique, and culturally valuable document of those journeys.
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Synopsis:
In 1765, Mirza Sheikh I'tesamuddin, a Bengali munchi (secretary) employed by the East India Company, travelled on a mission to Britain to seek protection for the Mogul Emperor Shah Alam II. The mission was aborted by the greed and duplicity of Robert Clive, but it resulted in this remarkable account of the Mirza's travels in Britain and Europe. Written in Persian, 'Shigurf Nama-e-Vilayet' or 'Wonderful Tales about Europe' is an entertaining, unique and culturally valuable document. The Mirza was in no sense a colonial subject, and whilst he wrote frankly about what he felt accounted for India's decline and Europe's contemporary ascendance, he was a highly educated, culturally self-confident observer with a sharp and quizzical curiosity about the alien cultures he encountered. His account of his sea-voyage, taking in Mauritius and the Cape, combines 'modern' ethnological notes on the countries he passed with an older tradition of travellers' tales. His accounts of visits to the theatre, the circus, freakshows, the 'mardrassah [University] of Oxford', Scotland, of the racial alarms his presence sometimes provoked and of his impressions of British moral codes are considered and acute, making for fascinating reading. He writes of his perceptions of the commercial energy of London, of the British constitution, of politics and of religious practice and beliefs in England. He records the several conversations he has with his English hosts about the similarities and differences between Islam and Christianity, showing much more familiarity with the latter than that of his hosts with the former. Writing in Persian he makes no effort to flatter the English. He is not impressed with the 'filthy habits of the firinghees' [Whites]) Kaiser Haq's scholarly, modern translation is the first to appear in English since the original abridged and flawed translation of 1827. The Wonders of Vilayet is an important document. Not until Gandhi's early 20th century accounts is there a similarly extended expression of South Asian perceptions of the West. In this respect, this book is salutary complement to Western accounts of the 'Otherness' of India, orientalism in reverse.
About the Author:
Kaiser Haq was educated at Dhaka University and received his Ph.D. at Warwick. He was a commonwealth scholar at Warwick, senior Fulbright scholar, fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and professor of English at Dhaka University. He also fought in the Bangladesh war of independence as a commissioned officer. He is currently a poet and a professor of English at Dhaka University.
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- PublisherWriters Ink
- Publication date2012
- ISBN 10 984871507X
- ISBN 13 9789848715079
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages80
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Uneven Octagon
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Writers ink, Dhaka
(2007)
ISBN 10: 984871507X
ISBN 13: 9789848715079
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Book Description Hardbound. Condition: As New. New. Contents 1. Angst and ennui. 2. The student and the bird lady. 3. Sajeda. 4. Third world exposition. 5. Fitzrovia. 6. Three women and a bond. 7. Notting Hill Nocturnal. 8. Delusionals. The eight stories included in Uneven Octagon cover three continents North America Europe and Asia. Excepting one they all deal with expatriates from South Asia interacting with each other and with white and black British and Americans in varied settings and situations. The exception Angst and Ennui is a fictionalized account of a young man's travails in the suffocating atmosphere of occupied Dhaka in 1971 and attempts to capture in a microcosm the backdrop to Bangladesh's liberation struggle. The other stories deal with human failings and triumphs in variety of settings. The Student and the Bird Lady about an old woman is set in Boston USA. Sajeda about an expatriate Bangladeshi Professor caught in a Trap of Forbidden Love is also set in the US as is Third World Exposition about black children from a Ghetto area of Boston. Fitzrovia Three Women and a Bond Notting Hill Nocturnal and Delusionals are set in various locales in London an off beat restaurant and a nude bar among them where drama students South Asian Expatriates con artists and illegal immigrants play out their lives. Shahidul Alam's short stories provide an illuminating if at times a pessimistic and disturbing picture of the contemporary South Asian Diaspora. 138 pp. Seller Inventory # 68735
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