I first came to know the name of Abdul Mannan Syed in the seventies from the cover story on poets and poetry of 'Weekly Bichitra'. In that issue, some prominent contemporary poets of Bangladesh were written separately. But at the age when I read that number, I did not understand anything. I remember the name because it felt fancy to have the Syed part of his name. I can know a little better by looking at the first issue of the magazine 'Charitra' (1979-84) edited by him. I first read his collection of stories 'Chalo Jaye Porkshe' when I found it in the library of Shaheed Suhrawardy College. This name was a surprise. I was surprised to see that there is no story of this name in the book. It is customary to name a book after a story usually included outside of names such as 'stories' or 'great stories', 'love stories'. 'Let's go indirectly' was out of the ordinary! There was no story by that name in the book – that was a surprise to me.
Another novelty for me was the totality of the 'Charitra' magazine. I felt the importance of 'character' much later. Later I came to know that he has gone through a phase of editing a little magazine called 'Shilpkala'. Later, during the literary activism of our generation, I saw him editing 'Jivannand' (1984-85), 'Ekhan' (January-December 1986), the monthly magazine 'Shilpataru', he was the advisory editor (1988-93), 'Shilpakala' ( 1970-73), 'Kafela', Calcutta (he was guest-editor, Bangladesh-issue, 1983), 'Kechidhvani' (he was guest-editor, Jibanananda Das-special issue 1996), 'Najrul Academy Patrika' (Navparaya, 1393- 1396), magazines of different nature like Nazrul Institute magazine (2002-2005). I myself had little involvement as a writer with some of them. Starting from the handwritten lamppost magazine 'Prabhati' in his youth to 'Mannan Syed Shilpa Kendra' at the last stage - his editing-character is very strange. Some introduction to his journalism can be found in the book 'Editor's Pen'. Until the eighties of the last century, he was so fluent in writing stories-poems-essays that many people felt unprepared as to what medium he should be called a writer. But his originality and sharpness as a poet and story-teller had by then been so established that even though he wrote many scholarly works, his creative writer identity could not be overshadowed. His poetry and story collections have been published at regular intervals. Among the poetry-collections we find: 'Janmandh Kavitaguchch' (1967), 'Jyotsna Roudre Pradhyam' (1969), 'O Sensbedan O Jaltaranga' (1974), 'Nishchit Kavita' (1975), 'Poetry Company Pvt Ltd' (1982 ), 'Surreal Poems' (1982), 'A Night on Park Street' (1983), 'Fish Series' (1984), Best Poems' (1987), 'My Sonnet' (1990), 'All Praise to Him' (1993). , 'Silence Depth Two Sisters Talk' (1997), 'Kavitasamgar' (2002), Book of Poetry (2006), 'Hey Friend's Friend Hey Priyatam' (2006), 'Premer Kita', 'Aghran Neel Din' (2008) 'People are extraordinary' (2008), 'Matal Kavita Pagal Padya' (2008), 'Sleepless in sleep' (2012). 'Amar Sonnet' and 'All praises to him' are new additions to the genre of Bengali sonnets. His unique poetry marked by surrealism was also a consistent reflection of his sense of life! At one point in his sense of life, surrealism and spirituality are holding hands and moving forward. There is a kind of subtle irony! All in all, the number of short stories written by Abdul Mannan Syed is not less. The list includes 'Satya Ki Badmash' (1968), 'Cholo Jai Pokshe' (1973), 'Death More Than Red Hunger', 1977, 'Selected Story' (1987), 'Utsav' (1988), ' Wolf Hyena and Three Fairies' (1997), 'Fish Meat Fish Fable' (2001), Selected Stories (2002), 'Galpa' (2004), 'Great Tales' (2007). Abdul Mannan Syed's short stories are poetic in imagination and unique in digging into the social and psychological world. The beauty of his short stories has not yet been properly discovered. He has many essay-critical research books. If we take a quick look at the names of his books, we will see, 'Shuddtam Kavi' (1972), 'Selected Articles' Part I (1976), 'Selected Articles' Part II' (1987), Nazrul Islam: Kavi O Kavita' (1977), 'Kartale Mahadesh' (1979), 'The Seer of Ten Horizons' (1980), 'Begum Rokeya' (1983), Syed Waliullah (1986), 'Nazrul Islam: Kalj and Kalottar' (1987), 'Chetnay Jal' The leaves of the industry are moved by reading' (1989), Tora Sab Jaydhvani Kar (1989), 'Reconsideration' (1990), 'Doorja Par Doroja' (1991), 'Farrukh Ahmad: Life and Literature' (1993), 'Consideration Reconsideration' ( June 1994), Muslim in Bengali Literature' (1998), 'Rabindranath' (2001), 'Modern-Contemporary' (2001), 'Syed Waliullah: Unpublished Collection of Works' (2001), 'Editor's Pen' (2005), from Ishwar Gupta Shahid Qadri' (2007), 'Selected Column' (2007), Poetry of Nazrul Islam (2003), 'Twentieth Century Art Movement' (2008), 'Dui Kavi' (2009), 'Essay Collection-1' (2010), Sudhindranath Dutta: Bhanutsav Under the Black Sun' (2011), 'Manik Banerjee: Inner Reality Outer Reality (2013) – to name a few. Although the latter book was published posthumously, the works included in it are roughly arranged during his lifetime! Wrote a small book called 'Chhand' (1985) on the call of Bangla Academy on Chhand. The little book swells up later. But this book bears the stamp of the depth of his Bengali poetic thought. The phonetic science of rhythm and the study of industrial variations were also considered by him. Here is the identity of his own view! In the beginning, his preoccupation with Jibanananda kept the depth of his involvement in the other side of Bengali literature a little hidden, but his rights in the overall Bengali literature began to manifest in such a way that his research-like thoughtful works were considered more important than his creative authorship. In spite of numerous literary journeys, he has written literary biographies of several writers of Bangladesh. Shahadat Hossain (1987), : Jibanananda Das (1988), Farrukh Ahmad (1988), : Abdul Gani Hazari (1989), Syed Murtaza Ali (1990), Mohammad Wazed Ali (1994), Prabodh Chandra Sen (1994) – at the invitation of Bangla Academy The biographies of these authors are not only a work of orderly material supply, but the biographies of these authors are on the one hand a by-product of his own literary journey and on the other an act of social responsibility. Uncovering memory and self-realization is another aspect of his authorship. 'Amar Biswas' (1984), 'Smriti's Notebook' (2001), 'Diary 1978-2008' (2009), 'Vesechem Bangga Bhelaya' (2009) 'Amar Biswas' (1988), 'Mitil Na Saadh Ahabiya Tome' (2012) This is catchy composition. Later, several writings of the direct diaries have also been compiled! The writer's personality, commitment, sense of responsibility, thirst for beauty and selfless dedication can be felt a little more deeply after reading these books! His pioneering role in researching and thorough analysis of Jibanananda Das is not only important in two Bengals but also an indicator of the freshness of Bangladesh's critical literature. The sensation that such instances of work created outside the Calcutta-centric literary world has inspired our next generation as well. Parallel to this, the books written and edited by him about Kazi Nazrul Islam are indicative of more complete Nazrul views as well as traditional-exceeding Nazrul views! As books related to Nazrul have been rearranged again and again, the geography of his incomplete research is often not quickly understood by looking at the title of the book! According to the testimony of Rafiqul Islam, the depth of his role in the preparation of the new edition of Nazrul Rachnabali edited by Abdul Qadir was also memorable! His research on Jibanananda-Najrul has received so much attention that we often do not remember that he has a deep, unique and long-running analysis of 'Rabindranath' as well. His 'Rabindranath' book deserves a more attentive reading! If you read these three books 'Iswargupta to Shahid Qadri', 'Dui Kavi' together, you can feel that he has uncovered the history of modern Bengali poetry in the style of comparative historical criticism; It is especially new in the variety and research of Bengali critical literature. Through the book 'Kartale Mahadesh' and 'Twentieth Century Art Movement', on one hand, he has revealed the character of European art movements and on the other hand, he has made Bengali's modern artistic consciousness palpable to Bengali speaking readers. Abdul Mannan Syed did not consider himself a proper novelist. However, he thought that the novel was one of his mediums. Although the presentation of the same book under different names in different editions may confuse the readers, the unique taste of his novels can be felt. His first novella Paripreksheter Dasdasi (1974); A little later wrote 'A-te Ajgar' (1982), Ichamati's Apar Opar' (2010). Written on the subject of partition. 'Pooramatir Kaj' (1999) and 'Utsav' (2005) are written in the historical style. 'Shyamali Tomar Mukh' (1997) and 'Shravastir Dibaratri' (1998) 'Dakar Ali Baba' (2005), Broken Boat (2006) is his novel. 'Ekattar' (2009) and 'Khudha Prem Agun' (1994) are novels about the disintegration of the inner world of individuals against the backdrop of the liberation war. Abdul Mannan Syed is not discussed as the importance of drama as literature is not discussed, although the history of stage form is discussed in the context of Bangladeshi drama. Even his name is not mentioned! Two collections of his plays have been published. 'Natyaguchcha' (1991) and 'Natyasamagr' (2009). He also wrote two books for children. 'World Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)' (2002) and 'Bhutude Kand' (2002). Although he did not reach the age of 70 in his life, the magnitude of his work not only makes him known as a hardworking individual but also as a person immersed in literature. Literature was simultaneously the container and inspiration of his sense of life! Who knows when such dedicated life will be seen again in our literary arena!