Introduction

"She is either the bravest or most foolish person I've ever met," a friend of Nasrin's is quoted as saying (Weaver 49).  There is no question about the bravery of Taslima Nasrin--a government anesthesiologist and the daughter of a county physician father and a devoutly religious mother, who was suddenly thrust into the spotlight upon the angry response of Islamic militants to her feminist writings.  Nasrin's writings express her thoughts on religion, feminism, and sexuality clearly--issues that are not often expressed in the open in the traditional Muslim society of Bangladesh.

However, ". . . it is her defiance of the establishment that has earned her thousands of admirers" (Sen).  Hindu and Muslim fundamentalist groups quickly and publicly took stances on their views of Taslima: Hindu fundamentalists adopted her as their new ally, distributing copies of her book, whereas Muslim fundamentalists burned hundreds of copies of her work, Lajja (Shame), and demanded her execution.  Taslima Nasrin  ". . . [became] both a creation of and a vehicle for religious extremists across the Indian subcontinent" (Weaver 55).

Some Biographical Information

• Born in 1962 in Mymensingh, a small town in present-day Bangladesh (Wright).
• Received M.B.B.S. from Mymensingh Medical College in 1984 (Wright).
• Later moved to Dhaka, to complete residency and work in a government clinic (Wright).
• Late 1980s: came into prominence as a poet, columnist, novelist, and fiercely independent feminist (Wright)
• Began writing for various newspapers and magazines in 1989 (Wright).
• Attacks on her began in 1992 and continued after her publication of the novella Lajja in 1993 (Wright).
• Her passport was confiscated, her book banned, bounties were placed on her head, and a fatwa came in May 1994, after she made a statement in the English-language newspaper, The Statesman, that ". . . the Koran should be revised thoroughly" (qtd. in Sen).  Her assertion was quickly clarified two days later in an editorial, but not before religious groups had already become aware of her statement (Sen)
• August, 1994-after months of hiding and escaping, she eventually sought amnesty under the Women Writers' Committee of International PEN, under whose asylum she now resides in Stockholm, Sweden (Wright).

List of Major Works

Collections of Poetry

• Amar kichu jay ase na ("I Couldn't Care Less"); 1988.
• Nirbasita bahire antare ("Banished Without and Within"); 1989.
• Atale antarin ("Captive in the Abyss"); 1991.
• Behula eka bhasiyechila bhela ("Behula Floated the Raft Alone"); 1993.
• Ay kasta jhepe, jiban debo mepe ("Pain Come Pouring Down, I'll Measure Out My Life for You"); 1994.
• The Game in Reverse; 1995

• Lajja (Shame); 1993--based on stories of Hindu-Muslim violence and the destruction of the Babri Masjid mosque in India; tells the tale of a fictional Hindu family in Bangladesh made to suffer atrocities at the hands of Muslim fundamentalists following the mosque's destruction -- as a result of this novel Muslim fundamentalists accused Nasrin of conspiracy against Islam and placed a bounty of 50 000 taka ($1250 US) on her head (Wright xi).

Awards Won

• The Ananda Prize--Calcutta, 1992.
• The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought--Prague, 1994.

Two Poems

"Happy Marriage"

My life,
like a sandbar, has been taken over by a monster of a man.
He wants my body under his control
so that if he wishes he can spit in my face,
 slap me on the cheek
and pinch my rear.
So that if he wishes he can rob me of my clothes
and take the naked beauty in his grip.
So that if he wishes he can pull out my eyes,
so that if he wishes he can chain my feet,
if he wishes, he can, with no qualms whatsoever,
 use a whip on me,
if he wishes he can chop of m hands, my fingers.
If he wishes he can sprinkle salt in the open wound,
he can throw ground-up black pepper in my eyes.
So that if he wishes he can slash my thigh with a dagger,
so that if he wishes he can string me    /up and hang me.

He wanted my heart under his control
so that I would love him:
in my lonely house at night,
sleepless, full of anxiety,
clutching at the window grille,
 I would wait for him and sob,
My tears rolling down, I would bake homemade bread;
so that I would drink, as if they were ambrosia,
the filthy liquids of his polygynous body.
So that, loving him, I would melt like wax,
not turning my yees toward any other man,
I would give proof of my chastity all my life.
So that, loving him
on some moonlit night I would commit suicide
in a fit of ecstasy  (Wright 18).
 

"Border"

I'm going to move ahead.
Behind me my whole family is calling,
my child is pulling at my sari-end,
my husband stands blocking the door,
but I will go.
There's nothing ahead but a river
I will cross.
I know how to swim, but they
won't let me swim, won't let me cross.

There's nothin on the other side of the river
but a vast expanse of fields,
but I'll touch this emptiness once
and run against  the wind, whose whooshing sound
makes me want to dance.  I'll dance someday
and then return.

I've not played keep-away for years
as I did in childhood.
I'll raise a great commotion playing keep-away someday
and then return.

For years I haven't cried with my head
in the lap of solitude.
I'll cry to my heart's content someday
and then return.

There's nothing ahead but a river
and I know how to swim.
Why shouldn't I go?  I'll go   (Wright 19).

Discussion of "Happy Marriage" and "Border"

A theme that Nasrin addresses frequently in her poetry is the idea of oppression of women by controlling spouses.  In traditional South Asian and Muslim culture and definitions of gender-roles, women are expected to be self-sacrificing and compromise for their spouses and children.  Personal desires and dreams become subordinate to the good of the family, at any expense.  In response to women's roles so defined, husbands are expected to be loyal, faithful, and supportive towards their families and wives, providing and protecting them. Unfortunately, there are instances in which this often translates into a jealous over-protectiveness, a need to control women and hold them back from their own personal desires and freedoms.  In her two poems "Happy Marriage" and "Border" from the collection The Game in Reverse, Nasrin describes two different instances of male domination over women, with two very different resolutions.

In the poem "Happy Marriage," a woman speaks of how her husband has taken control of her entire life, desiring to hold absolute power over her body.  She describes her husband as ". . . a monster of a man." who physically, emotionally and sexually abuses her with  no qualms at all.  In the first half of the poem, Nasrin writes about the male's fantasies of control in visceral terms:

          He wants my body under his control
           so that if he wishes he can spit in my face. . .
           so that if he wishes he can rob me of my clothes. . .
           so that if he wishes he can slash my thigh with a dagger. . .
           so that if he wishes he can string me up and hang me. . . .  (Wright 19).

The repetition of the phrase "so that if he wishes. . . "gives the reader a sense of the numerous injustices and atrocities the husband commits against his wife, and the increasing severity of each wrongdoing that push her closer and closer to death.

In the second stanza, Nasrin's speaker takes on a very sarcastic and cynical tone as she explains to the reader why her husband did the things he did: he wanted her to love him, to pine away for him, and when she didn't he became frustrated.  She illustrates a vivid picture of a woman mad with love, literally going crazy and committing suicide as a testament to her ecstasy at his hands.  Nasrin creates a very melodramatic, overly romantic image, building it up further and further in order to convey her sarcasm and cynicism in her regards to the husband's wishes.  She is mocking him outright in her over-dramatization of the ideal situation he has decided in his head, and she culminates the vision in the wife's killing herself out of love: the supreme way of demonstrating her love for her husband.  However, Nasrin's mention of suicide also can be interpreted as perhaps a foreshadowing of the wifeÕs future; her only possible escape from her husband's oppressive control over her.

The poem "Border" differs significantly from "Happy Marriage" in the means by which the wife comes to terms with her husband's dominion over her.  In "Border," the speaker is restrained by her husband forbidding her to escape, but also by her duties as a mother and as the nurturer of the family.  She realizes that escape will not be easy; she sees it as being quite an obstacle, but she has confidence in her ability to survive and make it on her own.  In the first stanza she compares the hardships she must conquer to a river that must be crossed, but despite the fact that she knows she can do it, her family ". . . won't let me swim, won't let me cross" (Wright 19).

In the second, third, and fourth stanzas, the speaker discusses the freedoms that await her on the other side of the "river;" she revels in the notions of being able to do things she has not done in years, since her youth.  She first discusses dancing in an open space, and enjoying the freedom of a vast field, alone--she looks to the future and resolves to someday dance in that open space.  Next, she addresses the idea of "playing keep-away," something she once did as a child.  She is determined to ". . . raise a great commotion playing keep-away someday."  Finally she confesses that she has not cried out of loneliness in a long time, and once again she promises to cry.  In each of these instances, she makes a promise to go across, find some freedom, and "return."

In the final stanza, she looks ahead at the "river" and to the possibilities that await her on the other side.  Nasrin ends the poem with the line "Why shouldn't I go?  I'll go."  The ending of the poem gives the reader a great sense of hope for the speaker -- she realizes her oppressed state and desires to get out of it; she knows she has the capabilities to do so; she also knows her responsibilities to her family, but she does not let that stand in the way of achieving the freedom she has promised herself.  This concern for the self is something refreshing that is found in Nasrin's poetry--according to the traditional expectations and values of South Asian society, women are constantly expected to sacrifice their own personal freedom and happiness for the sake of husbands, children, and family.  However, through the poem "Border," Nasrin reaffirms the woman as a human being who has duties and responsibilities to her family, but is also worthy of satisfying her own desires and aspirations.

Works Cited

Nasrin, Taslima.  "Bengali Women: Tongues Untied." World Press Review.  vol. 42, Jun 1995.

---. "Beyond the Scriptures."  The Statesman.  11 May 1994.

---. The Game in Reverse.  New York:  George Brazilier, 1995.

Sen, Sujata.  "I write because I want to change society." The Statesman.  9 May 1994: 2A.

Weaver, Mary Anne.  "A Fugitive from Injustice." The New Yorker.  12 Sept. 1994: 48+.

Wright, Carolyn.  "Taslima Nasrin's Translator Tells How Bangladeshi Writer Became Cause Celebre."  The PEN Newsletter.  vol. 86, Winter 1995.

Links

Updates on Nasrin's pending trial and her current situation

More links on Nasrin

A transcript of a speech by Nasrin

Author: Arthi Devarajan, Spring '98.

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