Zamin by Faizul Islam [Hardcover]

Across the world, ordinary people are displaced, disoriented, and uprooted. Despite various national development indices, the bleak and shadowed lives of these people remain untouched by light. Capitalist state structures have disconnected migrant, indigenous, and nature-rooted communities from their organic rhythms of life. They have been evicted from their own lands. Under the guise of natural resource exploration, real estate expansion, environmental conservation, or other pretexts, this displacement continues—sometimes from land, sometimes from dreams, and sometimes from the aspirations for knowledge and artistic expression. In five stories, Fayzul Islam brings forth the inner image of this disoriented consciousness and existential crisis of individuals. Through his storytelling, the author reveals that the individual is, in a literal sense, rootless. He attempts to create a synthesis, a connection, and an interrelation between art and science, mathematics, and various branches of social knowledge. In the confessional writings of author-philosopher Mario Ruoppolo, Fayzul Islam immerses himself in a current of experimentation that explores how news and data can be transformed into story—this undercurrent runs deep through his work. The settings of the five stories are sometimes shaped by foreign lands and their environments, far from home. Some are based in Bangladesh. Regardless of setting, the individual remains at the center. Human loneliness, the search for shelter, and unconventional artistic visions—all are portrayed by the author with profound dedication. It must be said: Fayzul Islam’s attention to detail is a hallmark of these stories. In narrative, language, and setting, he introduces himself through this collection with a fresh artistic sensibility.