Tahmima ends trilogy with search for love & identity

Bangladesh, now more in news for extra judicial killings of liberal professors and secular bloggers, is a young nation, barely 45-years-old. Its image has taken a severe beating with the international focus mostly on extra-judicial killings claimed by fundamentalist organisations, or ISIS offshoots, depending on the version one believes in.

However, the story of creation of Bangladesh, from East Pakistan into an independent nation, and its progress is beautifully crafted with great sensitivity by London-based novelist Tahmima Anam by weaving together the story of three generations of women from one family – grandmother Rehana, daughter Maya and granddaughter Zubaida.

Tahmima had focused on historical aspects in the first two books, A Golden Age and The Good Muslim, as these dealt with lives and memories of common Bangladeshis who took part in the Bangladesh War of Independence. However, she changed her focus to personal angst and a restless search for identity in The Bones of Grace, the last book in the trilogy that took her over a decade to complete. “I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do and I wanted to bring the story of the family to the present day. This book is definitely different from the other two — the first two are more like each other than the third one. It did feel a part of trilogy, but it also felt like it was its own thing as well. It had its own life because it is set in the present day and because the main character moves around and does not only stay in Bangladesh,” says Tahmima.

With the historical aspects of the young nation covered well in the first two books of the trilogy, Tahmima admits she felt free to tell Zubaida’s story as she was less constrained by facts of history. “It did feel like a closure to the decade of work that I had done, but it also felt like a moment of stepping off into the unknown and writing a story that was more directed by what I wanted to say about the contemporary than about what I felt I needed to say about history,” she adds.

The Bones of Grace is a love letter from Zubaida to Elijah, the man she loved a lot and lost in an effort to win him back. “Her search for identity, her discovery of her past and her scientific endeavours are the main pre-occupations of the novel,” explains Tahmima, who adds that the trials of razakars (collaborators) are in the background and are an example of the way in which the history is coming to bear on the life of Zubaida. “Her parents were revolutionaries and the trials are being held in the country, but it is not a political declaration on what those trials mean and certainly the book does not propagate a particular opinion about the trial.”

Tahmima, who has a doctorate in anthropology from Harvard, has not started on the next book as yet. She was on the jury of the recently announced Booker International Prize that was awarded to South Korean writer Han Kang.

“I am a novelist and that is what I will always do. I have just finished the trilogy of novels, so right now I am not sure what I will write next. But I am certainly not tired of writing as an endeavour, as a project, but we will see what happens.”

Tahmima, who was inspired by the stories and memories of her own family to write her novels, says she is interested in and strongly committed to writing about strong female protagonists. “Rehana (the main character of A Golden Age) is very much circumscribed by her generation. She becomes a revolutionary, but she very much exists between the framework of that society and its limitations. Maya (protagonist of The Good Muslim) is much more rebellious. She is atypical rebellious character. She tries to upend the expectations that are imposed upon her,” explains Tehmima.

“In The Bones of Grace, Zubaida does not have her mother’s confidence and her clarity of purpose and part of that is because she didn’t live through the war. The novel is her search for her voice, for her sense of belonging and only until she creates that sense of belonging can she fully embrace her individuality and independence. The three women find their strength in different ways.”

A Bangladeshi, who was born in Dhaka, but grew up in Paris, New York City, and Bangkok, Tahmima is very clear that she wants her work to speak for her and was not comfortable commenting on the issues in contemporary Bangladesh. Her father, journalist and publisher Mahfuz Anam, used to work with Unicef earlier and now is the editor-in-chief of the Daily Star, largest circulating English daily newspaper in Bangladesh.

The novel is likely to be released in Bangladesh by the end of the year, says Tahmima. The first two books were translated into Bangla and she hopes the third one too is translated soon.