Ajay Kumar at 09:12, 18 September 2023

2023-09-18T09:12:44Z

New page

{{Short description|Bangladeshi academic, writer, and translator}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Fakrul Alam
| native_name = ফকরুল আলম
| native_name_lang = bn
| image = Fakrul Alam's photograph.jpg
| caption = Alam at [[Bangla Academy]], Dhaka (2013)
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1951|07|20}}
| birth_place = Ukilpara, [[Feni District]], [[East Bengal]], [[Dominion of Pakistan]]
| occupation = Academic, writer, translator
| language = [[Bengali language|Bengali]], English
| nationality = [[Bangladesh]]i
| alma_mater = [[University of Dhaka]] [[University of British Columbia]]
| awards = [[Bangla Academy Literary Award]] (2013)
}}

'''Fakrul Alam''' (born 20 July 1951) is a Bangladeshi academic, writer, and translator.<ref>{{cite news|title=Essential Tagore nominated best book of year |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/Books/Essential-Tagore-nominated-best-book-of-year/Article1-775477.aspx |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130125133557/http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/Books/Essential-Tagore-nominated-best-book-of-year/Article1-775477.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 January 2013 |access-date=18 May 2012 |newspaper=Hindustan Times |date=29 November 2011 |location=Delhi }}</ref> He writes on literary matters and postcolonial issues and translated works of [[Jibanananda Das]] and [[Rabindranath Tagore]] into English. He is the recipient of [[Bangla Academy Literary Award]] (2012) in translation literature and [[SAARC Literary Award]] (2012).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2013/02/18/bangla-academy-awards-announced|title=Bangla Academy Awards announced|work=bdnews24.com|date=2013-02-18|access-date=2018-05-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DUgsAwAAQBAJ&q=saarc+literary+award&pg=PR14|title=Being Bengali: At Home and in the World|first=Mridula Nath|last=Chakraborty|date=2014-03-26|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317818908|via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Alam grew up in Ramkrishna Mission Road, [[Dhaka]].<ref name=life>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thedailystar.net/literature/professor-fakrul-alam-literature-life-and-translation-1578283|title=Professor Fakrul Alam: Literature, Life and Translation|date=2018-05-19|work=The Daily Star|access-date=2018-05-20|language=en|author=Hasan Al Zayed}}</ref> He began his schooling at Little Jewels Kindergarten and later attended [[St. Joseph Higher Secondary School|St. Joseph's School]] and spent his college days in [[Notre Dame College (Dhaka)|Notre Dame College]]. He completed BA and MA in English at the University of Dhaka, earned a second master's degree from [[Simon Fraser University]] and achieved his PhD degree from the [[University of British Columbia]], Vancouver. His PhD dissertation was on works of [[Daniel Defoe]].<ref name=life/>

==Academic career==
Alam became a faculty member at the Department of English of the University of Dhaka after the liberation war of Bangladesh. As of today, he taught at several universities around the globe, including Clemson University, USA as a Fulbright Scholar, and Jadavpur University, India as a visiting associate professor.<ref name="Fakrul Alam">{{cite web|title=Fakrul Alam University of Dhaka Faculty member profile |url=http://www.du.ac.bd/DownLoads/profile/FMENG75035.pdf |publisher=University of Dhaka |access-date=18 May 2012 |location=[[Dhaka]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120514142221/http://www.du.ac.bd/DownLoads/profile/FMENG75035.pdf |archive-date=14 May 2012 }}</ref>
Besides academic responsibilities, he was also the Director of the Advanced Studies in the Humanities of the University of Dhaka from 1993 to 1996, and Adviser of the Dhaka University Central Library from 2002 to 2003. He is currently a member of the Education Policy Implementation Committee constituted by the Government of Bangladesh.<ref name="Fakrul Alam"/> He serves as an advisor at the Department of English of [[East West University]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Faculty|url=http://www.ewubd.edu/ewu/showDocument.php?documentid=600&id=1183&dc=ENG|publisher=East West University|accessdate=18 May 2012|location=Dhaka}}</ref>

==Works==
Alam's first book was ''Daniel Defoe: Colonial Propagandist''.<ref name=life/> He writes in a vibrant style with logical argumentation on literary matters that range from colonial to post-colonial literature.<ref name="Sirajul Islam">{{cite journal|last=Choudhury|first=Sirajul I. |date=June 2007 |title=Culture and Politics: A Review On ''Imperial Entanglement and Literature in English''|journal=Spectrum |publisher=University of Dhaka |volume=5 |issn=1562-7195}}</ref> For him, reading and writing are a living experience. He received widespread recognition as one of the best translators and foremost authorities of Jibanananda Das and Rabindranath Tagore.<ref name=rtnn>{{cite web|last=Maniruzzaman|first=S. M.|title=Fakrul Alam's "Rabindranath Tagore and the National Identity Formation in Bangladesh": A Review|url=http://www.english.rtnn.net//opiniondetail/detail/20#.Un3n63CVOI8|publisher=RTNN|accessdate=9 November 2013|location=Dhaka}}</ref> Appreciating Alam's translation of Jibanananda Das, [[Syed Manzoorul Islam]] said "the sights and sounds of Bengal's landscape, its crowded botany and its constantly shifting lights and shadows find their way into Alam's translation".<ref>{{cite news|title=In his literary world . . .|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=205589|accessdate=18 May 2012|newspaper=The Daily Star|date=8 October 2011|location=Dhaka}}</ref> In 2011 he edited ''[[The Essential Tagore]]'' in collaboration with Radha Chakravarty for [[Visva-Bharati University]], India and [[Harvard University Press]], USA.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Essential Tagore: A New Statesman Book of the Year, 2011|url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674057906|publisher=Harvard University Press|accessdate=18 May 2012}}</ref> Below is an excerpt of Alam's translation of "[[Amar Shonar Bangla]]" (My Bengal of Gold) by [[R.Tagore]] from ''The Essential Tagore'':

"O mother, when I lay myself down at your feet; Bless me with the dust that they tread, for they will bejewel me. O mother dear, what little I have I will lay at your feet, How fulfilling to stop adorning myself with foreign purchases, To know that even the rope you provide for a noose can be my adornment!" (331)

===Publications===
* ''[[The Unfinished Memoirs]]'' (translation of [[Sheikh Mujibur Rahman]]'s unfinished autobiography; 2012)
* ''[[The Essential Tagore]]'' (2011)
* ''Rabindranath Tagore and National Identity Formation in Bangladesh: Essays and Reviews'' (2013)
* ''Imperial Entanglements and Literature in English'' (2007)
* ''Dictionary of Literary Biography: South Asian Writers in English'' (2006)
* Jibananada Das: ''Selected Poems'', Translated with Introduction, Bibliography and Glossary (1999)
* ''Bharati Mukherjee'', Twane's United States Authors Series (1995)
* ''Daniel Defoe: Colonial Propagandist'' (1989)<ref name=life/>
* ''The Ocean of Sorrow'' (2016)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite web|url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/2007/01/20/d701202102115.htm|title=Ah, Nanabari !|newspaper=The Daily Star|access-date=2018-05-20|date=2007-01-20|author=Fakrul Alam}}
* {{Cite web|url=https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-8038|title=Memories of Durga Puja|newspaper=The Daily Star|access-date=2018-05-20|language=en|date=2007-10-20|author=Fakrul Alam}}

{{SAARC Literary Award|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alam, Fakrul}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1951 births]]
[[Category:People from Feni District]]
[[Category:University of Dhaka alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Dhaka]]
[[Category:Bengali–English translators]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi translators]]
[[Category:Recipients of Bangla Academy Award]]
[[Category:Alumni of St. Joseph Higher Secondary School]]

Fakrul Alam - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 09:12, 18 September 2023