The Blue Sting

Syed Shamsul Haq's The Blue Sting is a remarkably well-written short novel with the Bangladesh War of Liberation of 1971 as its theme. The novel, however, does not describe for the reader the heroic struggles of our freedom fighters or the terrible sufferings our common people underwent during their nine-month long ordeal. The protagonist of the novel is one Nazrul Islam, a simple, ordinary citizen of Bangladesh, a member of the middle-class with a small job in the city of Dhaka. His evil star is his name and the fact that his original home was Burdwan of West Bengal, India, which was also the home of the great Bengali rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. From this unlucky coincidence a bizarre situation develops. Some incredibly stupid officers of the Pakistani occupation army take Nazrul Islam of Haq's novel as our rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam and subjects him to inhuman brutal tortures, which finally lead to his death. In a way, it is a tour de force, admirably executed. The torture scenes will remind the reader of Franz Kafka and Arthur Koestler. Syed Haq's concise and haunting prose through which he presents the protagonist's harrowing fate is nerve-shattering. Towards the very end when Nazrul Islam is finally dying the scene assumes a surrealistic character with the features of a nightmare. The Blue Sting is an excellent literary feat and has unmistakable power to move and persuade. Translator: Kabir Chowdhury (1923) is a noted translator, critic and essayist. His elegant and lively English translations of Bengali poems, novels and short stories have been widely acclaimed at home and abroad. He has received many national and international awards for his contributions in the field of literature, education and peace.