www.bangladeshinovels .com: A Review The paucity of literary materials on Bangladeshi Novels urged the author to create a website on it .

The result has been unique, www. bangladeshi novels .com is probably the pioneering initiative to digitalize a galaxy of information, essays and even excerpts of novels, translated into English . Subrata Das, the author and host of the above mentioned website has done a commendable job in accumulating this prodigy of materials relating to Bangladeshi novels.. The website was officially launched on October, 2003, in Dhaka. Recently a new Bengali section has been introduced in the website to cater the need of the readers of the Bengals, East and West. The website contains a detailed discussion on the History of Bangladeshi Novels from the pre Independence Period to the present time. This has been included in the webpage titled as Introduction. These detailed discussions are painstaking attempts to trace the lineage of Bangladeshi novels, where we come to know about the literary creations of novelists as, Najibar Rahman (1860-1923), Kazi Imdadul Huq (1882-1926), Kazi Abdul Wadud (1894-1970), Sheikh Idrish Ali (1895-1945), Akbaruddin (1895-1978), Abul Fazal(1903-1983), Humayun Kabir (1906-1969)and others, needless to say, many of whom have been passed into oblivion ,.The later two phases titled as East- Pakistan Era and Bangladesh Era ,delineate the themes and motifs which the writer traces in the course of Bangladeshi novels ,that runs parallel with the course of the nation , from the time of celebrated Vasha Andolon to the present state . The webpage titled as Articles contain biographical essays as well as literary reviews of works of novelists, arranged in an alphabetical order. Bangladeshi novelists whose lives and creations have been taken into account include, Akhtarujjaman Elias , Humayun Azad, Shawkat Ali ,Satyen Sen, Syed Walliullah and many others . The plethora of information these essays contain will be extremely helpful for researchers of this field. The biographical essays also contain useful links of vernacular essays on a particular novelist which have been incorporated. The next webpage titled as Short Bios contain biographical sketches on the lives and works of these novelists. It is a well known fact today Diasporic writings constitute a significant part in the arena of Post Colonial Literature. It is their hybrid identity which turns out to be a strongpoint in their writings. The section titled as Others contain a lucid essay on Bijon Sarma , whose first novel Mallika Amar Chandramallika was published in Bengali , while the other two novels (Journey to the East and Drumline Migration ), written in English, have been online published from Canada . The website contains many things more; there are some excerpts of some Bangladeshi Novels which have translated into English. These include Rifles Bread and Women a novel on the backdrop of

Bangladesh war, written by Anwar Pasha, Fifty six Thousand square Miles, another novel by Humayun Azad , translated by the author himself and some other novels . The website does justice to young and contemporary writers too. The last section titled as New Novels contain list of novels published in the Ekushe Book Fair in recent times. www. bangladeshinovels.com also incorporate several essays written both in English and in Bengali .From literary essays like A Review on Mahabharata Monjiri , and book reviews to nonfictional essays as that on Internet browsing, the diversity of these essays are really praise worthy . An interesting book review which deserves to be mentioned is that of Supto Japan by Manmatha Nath Ghosh , who had visited Japan even before Tagore . These essays are in PDF modes; hence they can be easily downloaded or could be printed. As early noted, trends in Contemporary Bangladeshi Novels seems to be the chief aspect of this website .Considering the influence of Magic Realism on Bengali fiction which , turn out to be a significant aspect of contemporary Bangladshi novels, the author has introduced an essay titled as, Jadubastobota o Bangladesher Uponyash (Magic Realism and Bangladeshi Novels). The three novelists whom he identifies as belonging to this genre are Akhtarujjaman Elias,Sahidul Jahir and Nasrin Jahan . Another literary essay which deserves mentioning is that on the narrative technique in contemporary Bangladeshi novels. Similarly the influence of Scott and other historical novelists on great novelists of the 19 th century as Bakimchandra Chattopadhyay and their successors have been touched upon in the essay titled as Bangla Oitihashik Uponasher Goti Prokiti . Among the many book reviews which are equally praiseworthy, the reviewer would like to refer to that of the text Nuhuler Monchitro . A Bildungsroman in form, as the author of the website would like to describe it , the plot of the novel delineates the quest of the protagonist in search of the root of his community . As the reader goggles through the various pages containing essays and excerpts of Bangladeshi novels he gets a fascinating glimpse of the journey of a fledging state, Bangladesh. To conclude, an introduction of genre wise categorization of Bangladeshi Novels as those belonging to Magic Realism, Historical Fictions, if introduced could have made the website more useful for literary scholars and researchers.