Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam, PhD

Dr. Syed Manzoorul Islam is Professor of English and Humanities at ULAB, and recently retired from University of Dhaka. He is an award winning fiction writer and art critic who has curated Bangladesh art exhibitions in UK, India and Iran.

Dr. Islam’s areas of special interest include Shakespeare, Modern Poetry and Fiction, Literary Theory, Postmodernism and Post-Colonialism and  Translatology. He is a noted column writer and a contributor to leading Bangla dailies (Prothom Alo, Somokal), and writes on political and social Issues. He is also an occasional political analyst for the BBC.

Program Affiliation
Department of English & Humanities (DEH)
Education

Doctor of Philosophy in English, 1981, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada

Dissertation: “Emanuel Swedenborg’s Influence on the Poetry of W. B. Yeats”

Supervisor: Professor Norman MacKenzie

Master of Arts in English, 1972 (examination held in 1973)

Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English, 1971 (examination held in 1972)

Areas of Interest

Shakespeare, Modern Poetry and Fiction, Literary Theory, Postmodernism and Post-Colonialism and  Translatology

Research & Scholarship
  • Fazlur Rahman Gold Medal
  • Pope Memorial Gold Medal
  • Bangla Academy award for Literature, 1996
  • Ekushey Padak for Language and Literature, 2018
Works

Creative Writing (Selected)

  • Islam, Syed, M. The Merman's Prayers and Other stories. Dhaka: Daily Star Books, 2013. Print.
  • Islam, Syed. M. Bela, Obelar Golpo.Dhaka: Prothoma Prokashon, 2012. Print.
  • Islam, Syed, M. Adhkhana Manush. Dhaka:Annyaprokash, 2006.Print.
  • Islam, Syed, M. Andhakar O Alo dekhar Golpo. Dhaka: Shamabesh, 2001.Print.
  • Selected Essays Aesthetics (in Bangla), Bangla Academy,1996.

Recently Published Articles:

Dr. Islam has published about 35 articles in English in academic journals at home and abroad. A few recently published articles are given beloew:

  • Islam, Syed, M. “Maker of Forms: Art and Aesthetics of Rabindranath Tagore,” Apperceptions: Journal of the Department of English and Modern European Languages 7 , Visva Bharati University, (2014): 11-21. Print.
  • Islam, Syed, M. “Slavery, Sugar and Sex: David Dabydeen’s Slave Songs and the Colonial Experience,” Metropolitan University Journal, 4, (2014): 1-9. Print.
  • Islam, Syed, M. “Travel as Self-discover: Tagore’s Letters from a Sojourner in Europe and Chhinnapatra,” Journeys: Indian Travel Writing, Ed. Somdatta Mandal, New Delhi: Creative Books, 2013, 109-126. Print.

Critiques:

He has published about 25 articles in Bangla on individual authors, literary movements and genres in leading journals in Bandladesh and India.

  • Islam, Syed. M. "Kibria".Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka, 2006. Print.

  • Islam, Syed. M. "Banglsadesh Art: Collection of Contemporary Paintings".Society for the Promotion of Bangladeshi Art, Dhaka, 2003. Print.

  • Islam, Syed. M. "Contemporary Art of Bangladesh", Indian High Commission, Dhaka, 2003. Print.

  • Islam. Syed, M. "Dipa Haq" . Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. Dhaka, 1996. Print.

 Interview:

  • Islam, Syed, M.  “The Author as Self-translator: in Conversation with Syed Manzoorul Islam,” in World Literature Review 88.3-4 (University of Oklahoma, USA), 66-68. Print.

Conferences, Talks, and Speaking Engagements: 

In the last 10 years, Dr. Islam has attended many seminars at home and abroad, delivering keynote papers . A few of them are:

  • Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam was invited to be on the panel of jury for selecting the long list, short list and consequently the winner of the prestigious DSC Prize for South Asian Fiction 2016.
  • Islam, Syed, M.“The Impact of Partitions on the Arts,”  Keynote address in the international conference on A Thrice-Partitioned Nation: Revisiting Bangladesh organized by the Department of English of Khulna University, March 28-29, 2015.

  • Islam, Syed, M. Lecture on “Ideology” in East West University, 29 November 2014. Islam, Syed, M. “In Conversation with Syed Manzoorul Islam: Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolution, College of Alice and Peter Tan, National University  of Singapore, 1 February, 2013.

  • Islam. Syed, M. “Teaching Literary Theory in the Classroom,” English Association Seminar, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal, October 2006.

  • Islam, Syed, M. “Indian Travel Writing in English,” Literature of Region and Nation Association Conference in Manchester, UK, June 2005.

  • Islam, Syed, M. “What is Postmodern Art?” in Oldham Art Gallery, Seminar on South Asian Art, Oldham, UK, July 2002.
  • Islam, Syed, M. “The Raj in Indian Fiction,” Literature of Region and Nation Association Conference in Mittskogen, Sweden, June 2000.
Courses Taught
ENG 313:Modernism: Early 20th Century English Literature
ENG 403:Postmodernism in Literature
ENG 404:Postcolonial Theory and Literature