Muneir Chowdhury
| Munier Choudhury | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Native name | মুনীর চৌধুরী |
| Born | 27 November 1925 |
| Died | 14 December 1971 (aged 46) |
| Education | MA (linguistics) |
| Alma mater |
Aligarh Muslim University Dhaka University Harvard University |
| Notable awards | Bangla Academy Award (1962) |
| Spouse | Lily Choudhury |
| Children | Ahmed Munier Ashfaq Munier Asif Munier |
| Relatives |
Ferdousi Mazumder (sister) Kabir Chowdhury (brother) |
Munier Choudhury (27 November 1925 – 14 December 1971) was a Bangladeshi educationist, playwright, literary critic and political dissident.
Choudhury graduated from Dhaka Collegiate School in 1941. He attended Aligarh Muslim University and later studied English literature for his bachelor's degree (with honours, 1946) and Masters (1947) at the Dhaka University. When in 1945, by then, the celebrated and only famous playwright and director of Bangladesh, Natyaguru Nurul Momen joined the University of Dhaka as a teacher, The student Munier greeted this Guru of his with a bouquet and expressed his interest in Drama. The Natyaguru advised him to study world theatre, especially, George Bernard Shaw. As a result, Natyaguru Nurul Momen became Munier's mentor in theatre and Shaw became his lifelong favorite. In 1954, he completed a second master's degree in Bengali. He was passionately devoted to Bengali language and culture, and courted imprisonment in 1952 for his participation in the Bengali language movement, where he had, along with some others, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as his prisonmate. While in jail he assiduously studied Bengali language and literature, appeared at the MA examination in Bengali from inside the jail and came out first in the first class. In 1958, he obtained another Masters in Linguistics from Harvard University.
Choudhury started his career in teaching at Brajalal College in Khulna and worked there between 1947 and 1950. Later he worked for some time at the Jagannath College in Dhaka in 1950. After that, he joined the Dhaka University in 1950 and taught both in English and Bengali language departments between 1950 and 1971. He became Reader in 1962 and Professor in 1970 and the Dean of the faculty of arts in 1971. Educated in the universities of Aligarh, Dhaka and Harvard, he first carved a name as a fine teacher of English literature. On his release from imprisonment, he started teaching Bengali at the University of Dhaka, later becoming the Chairman of the Department and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, which posts he held till his death in 1971. Students flocked to his class, many from other departments, as he lectured in his inimitable fashion on Meer Mosharraf Hossain, Bankimchandra and Rabindranath, among others. To this day he is fondly remembered as an extraordinary teacher who was able to kindle in his students a genuine love for great literatures.
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