For decades, Professor Harun-Ur-Rashid Askari stood before classrooms at Islamic University, guiding students through the dense and often intimidating world of literary theory. Now, long after stepping down as Vice-Chancellor, he has returned to those familiar intellectual grounds, this time through the pages of a new book unveiled at the Ekushey Book Fair 2026.
Titled Adhunikottor Sahitya-Paath (Postmodern Literary Reading), the book reflects a lifetime of engagement with literature, criticism, and the evolving currents of thought that shape how texts are understood. Rather than offering simple interpretations, Askari invites readers into a deeper conversation, where Bangla literary classics meet Western critical frameworks.
For Askari, the project is more than an academic exercise. It is the continuation of a journey that began in lecture halls more than thirty years ago, where he introduced generations of students to postmodernism and critical theory. His earlier work, Postmodern Literature and Critical Theory, published in 2002, became a reference point for many students navigating the same terrain.
Despite being widely recognised as a scholar of English literature, Askari has long felt a responsibility to write in Bangla, making complex theoretical ideas accessible to local readers. This latest book carries that same mission, presenting literary theory not as an abstract discipline, but as a living tool to understand and reinterpret Bengali literature.
“My book is essentially a supplementary text for postgraduate students of literature,” Askari said, reflecting on the motivation behind the work. “It grew out of my continuous encounter with the challenging world of theory, both as a curious reader and a teacher. I wanted to examine seminal Bangla literary works through the lens of Western literary and critical theories, so that students can strengthen their reasoning and critical thinking.”
Through its pages, the book revisits towering figures of Bengali literature such as Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, and Jibanananda Das. But instead of treating them as distant icons, Askari approaches their works as texts that can still yield new meanings when viewed through contemporary theoretical perspectives.
He hopes the book will serve as an invitation, especially to younger readers and aspiring critics, to look again at familiar works with fresh eyes.
“This book,” he said, “is meant to inspire the next generation of critics to engage more deeply with literary texts and to carry Bengali literary criticism towards a broader, global conversation.”
At a fair known for celebrating both new voices and established thinkers, Askari’s latest work stands as a reminder that the dialogue between literature and theory is never finished, only renewed with each reader who dares to enter its world.