Jayti Thakar

1. Jayti RThakar
Roll no. 34
Department of English
M. K. Bhavnagar University.

2. PAPER NO 8 CULTURAL STUDIES
Study on Exiled or Banned writers in respect to
cultural studies.

3. Index
 Taslima Nasrin – Lajja.
 Saadat Hasan Manto – Khol Do.
 Dan Brown – DaVinci Code.

4. What concern makes thing
banned?
 Social concern
 Religious concern (most of the times)
 Feminine concern
 Patriarchal concern(as well)
 Historical concern
 Communal concern

5. Taslima Nasrin, a Bangladeshi writer.
Her novel Lajja was banned .
For religiousConcern as well as feminine.
She is exiled after the publication of this novel sense 1994.
Sadat Hasan Manto, a Pakistani Writer.
His many of short stories were banned to read for
depicted sexuality in his works.
For cultural concern.
He was also exiled.
Dan Brown, a American Novelist.
His novel ‘DaVincy Code’, was banned.
For religious concern and also in defense of ‘Patriarchy’.

6. TASLIMA NASRIN
 Born on 25 Aug, 1962.
 Nasrin was born to Rajab
Ali and Edul Ara in town
of Mymensingh.
 Is a Bangladeshi Author.
 She is gynecologist by
her education.
 However, she became an
atheist over time.
 In course of writing she
took feminist approach.

7. Banned on ‘Lajja’(novel).
 Early in her literary career, she wrote mainly
poetry between 1982 and 1993.
 But, in 1993 novel ‘Lajja’ or ‘Shame’ (in
English), in which a Hindu family is fighting
against Muslims.
 This publication changed her life and career
dramatically.

8. Synopsis- ‘Lajja’.
 ‘Lajja’ is a response of Taslima Nasrin to anti-
hindu riots and erupted in parts of
Bangladesh.
 Soon, after the demolition of Babri Masjid in
India on 6th of Dec, 1992.
 The book subtly indicates that communal
feelings were on the rise, the Hindu minority
of Bangladesh was not fairly treated, and
secularism was under shadow.

9. About ‘Lajja’.
 ‘Lajja’ revolves around Datta Family and their
problems.
 How the fire of communal rioting erupts,
and Dutta family feels and faces the heat of
the communal hatred. Each member of the
family feels about this in his/ her own ways.
 Major four characters:
1. Sudhamoy Datta,
2. Kiranmayee Datta,
3. Suranjan Datta,
4. Nilanjana Datta.
Let ‘s have
a look.

10. What problems Nasrin faces after launch
of ‘Lajja’?
 Nasrin suffered a number of physical and
other attacks following the publication of
Lajja.
 She had written against Islamic Philosophy,
angering many Muslims of Bangladesh, who
called for a ban on her novel.
 In October 1993, a radical fundamentalist
group called the Council of Islamic Soldiers
offered a bounty for her death.

11. Continuing…
 She claims for abolition of ‘Sharia (the
religious laws based on the Koran that
Muslims follow)’.
 A few hundred thousand demonstrators
called her “an apostate appointed by imperial
force of vilify Islam”.
 At the end of 1994 she was exiled from her
own country ‘Bangladesh’.

12. SADAT HASAN MANTO
 Born on may 11, 1912. In
Panjab, British India.
 Died on Jan 18, 1955; at the
age of 42 in Lahor, Panjab, at
Pakistan. (his nationality was
‘Pakistani’.)
 He was novelist, playwright,
essayist, screen writer and
short story writer, , and a
keen observer of the society
in which he lived.

13.  Unlike many others,
Manto does not see
the perpetrators as
Hindu or Muslim,
Hindustanis or
Pakistanis, he just
sees and depicts
them as human
beings with all their
wilderness and
barbarity.

14. Khol do- Open it.
 “Khol Do” is one of the
most famous and
controversial stories of
Manto. It is one of the
masterpiece depicting the
effects of violence during
the partition of India on the
people of the land.

15. Manto was charged for pornography
in his story.
 Shocked… to think of what would have
happened to a girl of 17, who just hearing “Khol
do” opens down her salwar in spontaneous
reflex…
 shocked with the the capacity of Manto to see,
perceive, and depict the truth as naked as it is…
 Shocked with the courage of a writer to write
such a self-critical thing (those boys were on his
side of the border)… And the government
charged Saadat Hasan Manto for the charges of
pornography…

16. Manto was banned for…
 Manto was banned for using sexuality and
naked language in his stories.
 Few critics also considered him as ‘vulgar’.

17. Manto always said that,
 “if you find my stories dirty, the society you
are living is dirty. With my stories, I expose
only truth.”

18. DAN BROWN
 Daniel "Dan" Brown ,
best-selling author of
'The DaVinci Code' was
born on June 22, 1964.
 Is an American author
of thriller fiction.
 He is influenced
by Leonardo da
Vinci,William
Shakespeare, Sidney
Seldom, Harlan
Coben, Robert Ludlum.

19. Controversy on ‘Da Vinci Code’.
 In Brown's novel, the "DaVinci code" refers to
cryptic messages supposedly incorporated by
Leonardo DaVinci into his artwork.
 According to the novel, Leonardo was a
member of an ancient secret society called
the "Priory of Sion“.

20. Cont…
 Brown directly attack on the deep root of
Christianity.
 He in his novel shows the ‘blood line’ of Jesus
Christ.
 His message was about the celebration of the
"sacred feminine," that Jesus and Mary
Magdalene were married.

22. Reason of banned..
 It also attacks on
root of ‘Patriarchy’
in the society.
 Thus, it avoids
Jesus as a divinity
and considered
him as a mortal.

23.  “Those who banned by people for their
critical works, they read the most by the
people.”

24.  ‘Lajja’ byTaslima
Nasrin, later
translated into many
languages, not only in
various Indian
languages but also in:
 French, Dutch,
German, English,
Spanish, Italian,
Norwegian, Finnish,
Icelandic, Persian,
Arabic as so.

25.  Manto was not read
throughout his life
time.
 He became a quite
popular after his
death and 60 years
after his death,
Manto still continues
to haunt us with a
strange and morbid
relish.

26.  Dan Brown’s novel ‘Da
Vinci Code’ banned for
it’s decoding of secrets
of Christianity.
 Though he became
best-seller for selling
more than 3 million
copies, then over 40
million were in print.
 Later it also converted
into movie version by
Ron Howard (an
American well-known
director).

27. Summing up with other (contemporary)
movies like…
“Banned for
Communal
Concern”

28. Banned for Historical concern

29. Banned for Religious Concern

30. “A writer picks up his
Pen only when his
Sensibility is hurt”
-Manto

31. Resources…..
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oi5hdM
6W8o
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeVbq42
5ksc
 www.wikipedia.com
 www.encyclopedia.com
 http://www.catholiceducation.org

32. Thank you for visiting us.

33. Submitted to..
 Department of English
 M. K. Bhavnagar University
 Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India.