Author: Umme Farhana, Department of English Laguage and Literature, Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University

Abstract: »The aim of this paper is to problematize the way a rape victim’s life story has been depicted in Hasan Azizul Huq’s novel Sabitri Upakhyan (The Chronicle of Sabitri). The protagonist of the novel is a sixteen year old girl called Sabitri and the central theme is the series of incidents that changed her life forever: the abduction, repeated rape and the aftermath of rape. The way Sabitri is portrayed and her torture is described objectifies her and the author’s attempt to arouse pity for her is a male chauvinist approach to react to one special rape case among the innumerable reported and unreported others. The graphic details of the sexual violence and the tragedy of Sabitri’s life becomes the source of sadomasochism on the author’s part. My argument is that the male chauvinism is expressed not only by eroticizing the protagonist but also by dehumanizing the criminals to prove that the rapists are not normal male members of the society. This proposition trivializes men’s crime against women.« (Source: Journal of Nazrul University)

Contents:

	Abstract (p. 163)
	1. Introduction (p. 163)
	2. Nature of rape as a crime against women (p. 165)
	3. Representation of rape in the novel (p.166)
		(i) Description of rape (p. 166)
		(ii) Sexualizing Sabitri (p. 167)
		(iii) Portrayal of rapists as monsters or sex starved male (p. 169)
	4. Conclusion (p. 171)
	Works Cited (p. 172)

Wikipedia: History of Asia: History of Bangladesh | Literature: Bengali literature / Hasan Azizul Huq | Literature: Fiction about rape | Sex and the law: Rape / Rape in Bangladesh