No more Rushdie prose  at Dacca University

The department of English at the Dhaka University withdrew Salman Rusdhie’s prose piece from its syllabus. A press release signed by the chairman of the department Dr Niaz Zaman yesterday said the decision was taken in light of the controversy raised by its inclusion. It said the piece, "Outside the Whale", had been included in the syllabus as an example of English writing by a non–English writer and in the interest of making the syllabus both relevant and up–to–date.

The Syllabus Committee believed that the subject matter the essay was of value to students of literature as it pointed out the importance of studying literature in its context and cautioned against accepting misrepresentations of society in literature and the visual arts.

The Academic Committee of the department, however, said there was never any intention of hurting the sentiment of anyone by the inclusion. The essay has nothing to do with Islam. It is about post–colonial literature. Some "religious" students who objected to Rushdie raised the objection at DU. ‘Outside the Whale’ is a counterpoint to a 1940 essay by George Orwell, ‘Inside the Whale’, which praises the apolitical genius of Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer. The Rushdie essay makes an eloquent argument for a politically engaged literature.

(The Independent, London,

August 27, 1998)


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