GUWAHATI, Dec 4 � �Write from the heart and without a thought of monetary gain�if it is a good creation there will be an appreciative audience,� said Anisul Hoque, writer and journalist from Bangladesh while addressing participants in Confluence - the Asia International Literary Festival at Guwahati today.
Borrowing a quote from eminent author Nirad C Chaudhuri, he said that the writer should write like a person possessed and not care for pecuniary benefits the work could bring.
Hoque, who has close literary ties with writers in Bangladesh as well as abroad said that there are points in time when literature does not make an immediate impact, but has ramifications felt years or decades later. Referring to a visit of Rabindranath Tagore to Iowa University in the early part of the 20th century, he said that visit was instrumental in reinforcing the Bengali language in his region.
Much later, the people of East Pakistan could resist the imposition of Urdu, thanks to the robust belief they had on Bengali literature and culture.
�If that visit to Iowa had not taken place, perhaps Bangladesh would not have been born,� Hoque remarked.
Speaking in the session Selling Orient to the Occident, he said that there were similarities between the Indian subcontinent and Western Countries as well as dissimilarities. In both places, publishers were on the lookout for works which would sell well.
In another session, Literature of the Northeast - a broad overview, Tilottama Mishra focused on some of the common grounds of literatures of Northeast India, highlighting past as well as some recent trends. Her presentation spoke of a sense of geographic isolation the writers felt, and the multi lingual identity of many among them.
In many of their works there was an intense sense of loss of cultural identity, and contained reverberations of their rich native cultures.
Some of them were aware of the challenges facing the ethnic communities, and the others were masters in portraying ties between different ethnic groups which have inhabited the region in different phases of history.
Acclaimed writer Mamang Dai, in a well appreciated presentation, referred to the strong oral literature that has been present in the Northeast for a long time. This along with the script literature combined to make the literature of the region diverse and vibrant.
Dai, among the major literary figures from Arunachal Pradesh said, "Today in the context of contemporary literature of the region there is a palpable mingling of written history and the oral tradition that is now being documented using the Roman script."
She identified two other features which were also evident in the region's literature of which one was psychological terror and social difficulties manifest in satire, lyrics and novels. The other was a world of beauty once in harmony with nature restored in a mix of myth and memory.
Today was the second day of the literary fest organised by the North East Writers Forum, and a number of others sessions saw the participation of several noted writers and poets from India and neighbouring countries. The event would conclude tomorrow.
