The twenty-four stories in 1971 and After are a representative fraction of the numerous short stories written about the War of Liberation and its aftermath. They include stories by well known writers such as Akhtaruzzaman Elias, Alauddin Al Azad, Hasan Azizul Huq, Humayun Ahmed, Makbula Manzoor, and Nasreen Jahan as well as by a number of less well known writers. Taken together, they give a varied perspective on the events of 1971 and after. The stories, some written immediately after the war, some decades later, have been arranged so that they begin with 1971 and end with the present. They include stories of the incredible heroism of ordinary people caught up in the conflict, as well as stories of cowardice and collaboration, of women who became “heroines” and found there was no welcome for them in their own homes, of heroes who turned villains. The stories of 1971 and After make thought-provoking reading about the thirty years of Bangladesh.
Contents
Nineteen Seventy-One
The Raincoat
Sons of the Soil
The Holocaust
The Unidentified Corpse
The Shadow of Vultures
The Fluent Player
Nameless and Casteless
Jesus ’71
The White Lily
The Last Encounter
Victory Day
Transformation
The Skull
Virangana
Hangover
The Freedom Fighter
King Azi and The Singer
Rockabye Baby on the Tree Top
We are Waiting / Confrontation
Jalil Saheb’s Petition
Sweet Bird of Hope
Non-Story
The Writers
The Translators
