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The Unveiling of
Taslima (2008)
The Crescent and
the PEN: the strange journey of Taslima Nasreen was
a book eight years in the making. During this time it changed
titles four times: it went from ‘The Unveiling of Taslima to
‘Taslima’s Carousel’, then for a few months it became
‘The Cold Red Carpet’: Taslima: author, icon, outcaste’
before finally settling down to The Crescent and the Pen.
It
changed publishers three times and book covers as well; it
almost did not see light of day—which is another story for
another time. And I admit there was a time when I feared it
was the wound from which I would not recover, in a literary
sense, that is. But
it was published thanks to American publishers, Praeger
Publishers, part of the
Greenwood
stable. This was due to the untiring efforts of Hilary
Claggett, at the time a commissioning editor for Praeger;
because Hilary believed in the Taslima book she mounted a
twelve months campaign to convince her colleagues at Praeger
that they should publish my book—I am indebted to her for
her encouragement and untiring efforts.
During
the research and the writing phase I saw myself as a literary
detective on the trail of this woman called Taslima Nasreen—I
was the hunter and she was my quarry. After reading author
Janet Malcolm I knew patience would be my travelling
companion. I travelled to
Bangladesh
five times;
Calcutta
and
New Delhi ,
London
,
Paris
,
Copenhagen
,
Stockholm
,
Helsinki
,
Berlin
,
Cologne
,
New York
,
Atlanta
and Sydney—and still I didn’t have all the pieces to the
puzzle. It was driving me mad until I finally returned to
Dhaka
,
Bangladesh
in 2000 where some of the key players finally revealed their
complete hand (in a poker sense that is.
The
struggle to have this book published was a sign of the times.
I was writing against the grain, daring to look behind the
official story; threatening
a much-cherished mythology, subverting stereotypes and poking
fun with an irreverent sense of humour at two opposing
fundamentalisms i.e. Islamic fundamentalism and Postmodern
fundamentalism.
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