Urdu Critic Waris Alvi : Ghalib Award 2004
DELHI INSTITUTE CONFERS AWARD ON 77-YEAR-OLD FOR HIS CONTRIBUTION TO ‘MODERN URDU LITERARY TRADITIONS’
The write choice? I should have got award earlier, says winner
Anand ST Das
Ahmedabad, October 20: Sitting at his writing desk at home and completing his books, eminent Urdu literary critic and playwright Waris Alvi is a contented man. But the 77-year-old author, who has just bagged the prestigious Ghalib Award, feels this award should have come a bit earlier.
‘‘It’s an honour that I’ve been chosen for this award for my work in Urdu literary criticism. But it could have come some years earlier,’’ said Alvi, considered to be one of the extremely influential critics in Urdu literature in the subcontinent. He is regarded as the man who started a new trend in literary criticism in Urdu called creative criticism.
Alvi has been chosen for the Faqruddin Ali Ahmed Ghalib Award for Criticism — better known as the Ghalib Award — for 2004. The award, instituted by the Delhi-based Ghalib Institute, comes in recognition of his far-reaching contribution to modern Urdu literary traditions through his criticism. Alvi, often counted among the three finest living Urdu critics — the other two being Gopichand Narang and Shamsur Rahman Faruqi — is known in contemporary Urdu criticism for his distinct tone. ‘‘I’m very happy that Gujarat’s huge but silent contribution to Urdu literature is being recognised with this award,’’ he said. Alvi, author of 15 plays and 18 books of literary criticism, is glad that it’ll no longer be only Lucknow and Delhi that’ll be known for Urdu literature.
‘‘Gujri, the early form of Urdu, was spoken and written not in Lucknow or Delhi but in Gujarat. Yet this State’s contributions to Urdu literature always remained in the background,’’ he said. The shayari genre of Urdu literature, he said, first evolved in Gujarat.
Many of Alvi’s books are published in Pakistan and recommended university texts in several countries in the West. But this former professor of English and Persian literature finds the present literary and publishing scene in Urdu dismal.
‘‘There’s hardly any enthusiasm among the young generation, both in writing and publishing Urdu literature in our subcontinent. Though it’s not a dying language as many people say, Urdu is not actually advancing the way it should in this age, like most other languages are,’’ he said. Alvi, earlier honoured with the Gujarat Gourav Award (1992) and the Maharashtra Urdu Academy Award (1993), first made name as a playwright as his plays, all in Gujarati, were staged in Ahmedabad and Mumbai. ‘‘I was invited in 1969 by Mumbai’s cinema tycoons to work there, but I chose the quiet life of writing back here,’’ he said.
The titles of Alvi’s criticism books read like they’re of fiction books. His criticism gained popularity primarily because of his lucid language, free from all contemporary criticism jargon, besides his original interpretation of the famous literary works. His better-known criticism books include Teesre Darje Ka Musafir, Aye Pyare Logo and Kuchh Bacha Laya Hoon. His popular plays include Bapu, Beatle, Birathar, Nirab Chandni nu Ghuvad, Alibaba and Gherav.
Alvi’s greatest sorrow is the young generation’s alienation from Urdu. ‘‘Over 200 students have passed MA in Urdu under my guidance so far, but not a single one took to writing or doing anything with Urdu,’’ he said
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=104139
The write choice? I should have got award earlier, says winner
Anand ST Das
Ahmedabad, October 20: Sitting at his writing desk at home and completing his books, eminent Urdu literary critic and playwright Waris Alvi is a contented man. But the 77-year-old author, who has just bagged the prestigious Ghalib Award, feels this award should have come a bit earlier.
‘‘It’s an honour that I’ve been chosen for this award for my work in Urdu literary criticism. But it could have come some years earlier,’’ said Alvi, considered to be one of the extremely influential critics in Urdu literature in the subcontinent. He is regarded as the man who started a new trend in literary criticism in Urdu called creative criticism.
Alvi has been chosen for the Faqruddin Ali Ahmed Ghalib Award for Criticism — better known as the Ghalib Award — for 2004. The award, instituted by the Delhi-based Ghalib Institute, comes in recognition of his far-reaching contribution to modern Urdu literary traditions through his criticism. Alvi, often counted among the three finest living Urdu critics — the other two being Gopichand Narang and Shamsur Rahman Faruqi — is known in contemporary Urdu criticism for his distinct tone. ‘‘I’m very happy that Gujarat’s huge but silent contribution to Urdu literature is being recognised with this award,’’ he said. Alvi, author of 15 plays and 18 books of literary criticism, is glad that it’ll no longer be only Lucknow and Delhi that’ll be known for Urdu literature.
‘‘Gujri, the early form of Urdu, was spoken and written not in Lucknow or Delhi but in Gujarat. Yet this State’s contributions to Urdu literature always remained in the background,’’ he said. The shayari genre of Urdu literature, he said, first evolved in Gujarat.
Many of Alvi’s books are published in Pakistan and recommended university texts in several countries in the West. But this former professor of English and Persian literature finds the present literary and publishing scene in Urdu dismal.
‘‘There’s hardly any enthusiasm among the young generation, both in writing and publishing Urdu literature in our subcontinent. Though it’s not a dying language as many people say, Urdu is not actually advancing the way it should in this age, like most other languages are,’’ he said. Alvi, earlier honoured with the Gujarat Gourav Award (1992) and the Maharashtra Urdu Academy Award (1993), first made name as a playwright as his plays, all in Gujarati, were staged in Ahmedabad and Mumbai. ‘‘I was invited in 1969 by Mumbai’s cinema tycoons to work there, but I chose the quiet life of writing back here,’’ he said.
The titles of Alvi’s criticism books read like they’re of fiction books. His criticism gained popularity primarily because of his lucid language, free from all contemporary criticism jargon, besides his original interpretation of the famous literary works. His better-known criticism books include Teesre Darje Ka Musafir, Aye Pyare Logo and Kuchh Bacha Laya Hoon. His popular plays include Bapu, Beatle, Birathar, Nirab Chandni nu Ghuvad, Alibaba and Gherav.
Alvi’s greatest sorrow is the young generation’s alienation from Urdu. ‘‘Over 200 students have passed MA in Urdu under my guidance so far, but not a single one took to writing or doing anything with Urdu,’’ he said
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=104139
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