Bangla Literature : How much role should a 
story-writer play in building faith and conscience or in 
reforming society?
Nazib Wadood : Faith and ideology, that might 
be religions like Islam or political theories like socialism, 
obviously influence a writer and affect his writing. But a 
real writer doesn’t write short story for the sake of his 
faith or ideology, though his faith and ideology remain 
mixed and integrated with the parts and parcels of the 
story. However, as a story reflects life and social 
conditions of a specific community of a specific time and 
explains and criticizes these life and conditions, there 
must be some kind of reflection of opinions of the writer 
in it. This creates thoughtfulness, enlightenment and 
conscience about life and world in reader’s mind that 
might inspire him to work for a movement. This is an 
indirect influence.
Bangla Literature : Then what can society expect 
from those who are out to write story without story or 
abstract essay-story?
Nazib Wadood : Firstly, I think society 
shouldn’t expect cash profit from a story-writer or his 
writings. Secondly, story without story seems to me 
absurd like a stone-cup of gold. I think literature should 
have some kinds of entertainment value. It shouldn’t be 
aimed at only for writers of the same category and 
researchers. Readers wouldn’t receive anything which is 
devoid of minimum amount of entertainment. That 
doesn’t, however, mean that entertainment would be the 
prime factor.    
Bangla Literature : Main problem of these 
writers is that a reader cannot understand what the writer 
wants to tell, what life and society he wants to tell about...
Nazib Wadood : That is their big failure. In a 
story, time, geographical position (setting), religion or 
philosophy of life of a character or community should be, 
at least as hints, developed. It isn’t a writer’s duty to raise 
a wall before the readers.
Bangla Literature : I guess that language of 
your short stories is quite different from that of  your 
novels. Your language in the stories is very concrete, rich 
with imagery and simile and allusion. On the other hand, 
we see clear, playful and straightforward language in 
your novels…
Nazib Wadood : Isn’t it desirable? Short story 
deserves to be concrete and allusive like poetry. Novels 
give opportunity to work in various ways.
Bangla Literature : What do you think about 
use of prose, syntax, and especially verbs in your 
fictions?  
Nazib Wadood : I don’t think much about it. 
After writing a good length, I read and review it like a 
common reader whether my narration has been clear, 
smooth and contextual. Narration and syntax is built up 
according to the subject matter, time, setting and socio-
economic position of the characters. Use of verbs 
depends mainly on time and relation of the writer with 
the story and its characters. 
Bangla Literature : How do you judge the 
necessity of direct experience in writing?
Nazib Wadood : It is very valuable, but it can’t 
be said that writing isn’t possible without direct 
experience.
Bangla Literature : How much importance do 
you give to your experiences in collecting ingredients for 
writing? 
Nazib Wadood : Enough. Experience helps in 
building the frame-work, but to develop it to literature or 
art the writer is to improve it to a specific form and put 
many other colors on it. 
Bangla Literature : Then is it true that each 
experience of the writer is useful in the sense that it 
might be necessary any time?
Nazib Wadood : Right. Any experience can 
work any time. When and which one you can’t say earlier. 
Bangla Literature : In your consideration, what 
is a short story, actually?
Nazib Wadood : None can answer this type of 
question straightforward. What I understand is that a 
short story is a picture of a fragment of life. It is shorter in 
length moving in one direction compared to a novel. But 
all these might not create a short story. Many other  
beauty and credits it needs to be a short story. 
Bangla Literature : How is a short story 
developed? Will you explain?
Nazib Wadood : This has already been said 
while answering the previous question. When all the 
ingredients, beauty and merits are put in place, then a 
story emerges as a piece of art, i.e. literature. How a writer 
will make it possible cannot be imagined by another 
writer. Sometimes it also happens that the writer himself 
can’t imagine before it is written. It has no fixed format or 
model. 
Bangla Literature : What is the position of short 
story in our literature?
Nazib Wadood : I think it is next to poetry if we 
give the latter the first position. Actually, till now, 
beginning from Rabindranath Tagore, a huge number of 
good short stories have been written in Bangla.  
Bangla Literature : You have written some 
essays and short stories on Prophet Hazrat Muhammad 
(PBUH). It is very much usual that one will write essays 
on him, but short story? How did the thought come in 
your mind?
Nazib Wadood : You know, Hazrat Muhammad 
(PBUH) is the greatest man of all the time. He is also the 
most successful human being. And we are to follow him 
as a prophet. So, I have plans to do works on his life and 
contributions. Those essays and stories are parts of that 
plan. There are huge number of good articles, researches, 
essays, poems and books on him. I haven’t much 
knowledge to add anything to these. But I think I could 
write some important and significant incidents and 
aspects of his life and credits in the form of short story to 
present them in a new and interesting form. I have 
written two stories only so far as a part of practice and 
these have been warmly received by the readers and 
critics. I have plans to do more.   
Bangla Literature : Many writers and 
intellectuals of our country consider Hazrat Muhammad 
(PBUH) as merely a preacher of Islam. What is your 
opinion, as a creative writer, in this regard?
Nazib Wadood : If you look as a religious man, 
you shall obviously consider him as a prophet whom you 
are bound to follow. But if you see him as a neutral 
common man and consider him too just a human being 
like you, then you can’t but acknowledge that Hazrat 
Muhammad (PBUH) is the greatest savior of humanity. 
So, as a creative writer, you have many things to do with 
his life and works. But you know there are difficulties in 
writing on him. The problem lies in the realities that one 
(religious) group is unable to see the matters beyond 
religious emotion and another (secular and atheist) 
group unreasonably tries to band the attempt as 
‘fundamentalist’, reactionary’ and ‘backwardness’. So a 
creative writer fears to write on him.