Biography
Khondakar Ashraf Hossain (Bengali: ???????? ????? ?????) is one of the leading poets, essayist and translator of Bangladesh. Born in Jamalpur, Bangladesh, in 1950, he was educated at University of Dhaka and Leeds University. Currently he is a professor of English at University of Dhaka. He published a number of collections of poetry and of essays in Bengali and English. Dr Hossain translates from Bangla to English and from German and English to Bangla. Dr. Hossain edits and publishes a literary magazine: Ekobingsha which was embarked by Hossain himself in 1985 with its main focus on the new poetry of Bangladesh.
Critical Reception
Khondakar Ashraf Hossain wrote a wide variety of poems in lucid language and with innovative and suggestive imagery. Expressions and eloquence in his poetry came out his successful, spontaneous incorporation of national and world heritage and mythology into his personal experience and feelings. Though he began to write when postmodernism was blooming fast in the west, he denies to identify himself as an avowed post-modernist. In his book On Behula's Raft's launch ceremony, he said about himself that "my soul is nourished by the alluvial soil and the moistures of riverine Bangladesh, which is my Behula". Fakrul Alam considered his poems "humorous and witty" in some cases. Syed Manzoorul Islam opined that Ashraf at his initial stage was a romantic poet, now he is a realistic poet as he is writing in a very self-conscious way. Hossain's love poems are characterised by stark realism rather than by romantic euphoria. Anisuzzaman deemed his poetry as the socio-political representation of Bangladesh. He explored not only contemporary social and political condition of his country but also "the grounds of existential philosophy in conceiving human life as fragile yet undying, as self-destructive yet eternal". His keen observation of the human condition led him to be a serious poet. ..
