The Evolution of Urdu Literature in the 20th Century

MAF Khawaja,

This is a good piece, but far far too short. You succeded in writing like a journalist, but should have injected a stronger `analytical` thought process.

I would be very interested in how you yourself view the modern development of urdu literature.

`naseem hijazi searched religion`

Every single one of Naseem Hijazi`s book contains the regular formula : Islam is Great every thing else evil ...

Having read his every single book, I am shocked to see his name amongst the greatest writers of Urdu.. what an Insult to Urdu, and Pakistan whose national language it is.

-YLH

ke aati hai Urdu zabaan aatey aatey.

Before you write about Urdu in English, young man, you need to brush up your English -- use a spell checker

Freud is not Froyed or Fried. Jung is pronounced yung but not written as yung.

Otherwise an interesting attempt. Keep on writing and keep on researching.

Allah kare zore qalam aur zeyada.

Oh these murderous roads of the United States.

Pleas Eklavya DON`T GIVE UP we at Chowk love you

and all of us are praying for -- may God pull you through this ordeal -- what a shocking tragedy -- only day before yesterday we were writing to each other. YOU WILL COME BACK ON CHOWK, EKLAVYA.

Dear Pravin please keep us informed -- I had almost lost my children on these killing fields of US highways.

All the best to you, Eklavya.

The title of the essay is quite misleading and the whole essay is a disappointment. I had hoped to see a wider canvas than what the author has presented. Urdu Literature includes all forms of urdu writing, e.g., short story, novel, novelette, poetry, satire and wit, essay, biography/life sketch, travelogue, etc. The author dealt with only the short story literature and the short story writers. I realize that a comprehensive treatment would need a much extensive undertaking. The author could have taken care of this by selecting a more appropriate title for his essay, e.g., Evolution of Urdu Short Story in the Twentieth Century. Some glaring omissions in the author’s coverage include Ahmad Nadim Qasmi, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Wajida Tabbassum, Ashfaq Ahmad, Bano Qudissiya, and Qudrat-Ullah Shahab. There may be others too because I have not been keeping up-to-date with the late twentieth century writers who introduced symbolism in short story writing. The treatment accorded to the various writers is also rather perfunctory. For example Manto and Ismat Chughtai were allocated only one line. Manto was arguably the greatest urdu short story writer.

Seeing that the author is only an under-graduate student, and perhaps not of urdu literature, the shortcomings of his essay can be overlooked. However, I hope he would learn from this experience. He should not over-commit and shortchange.

Mohammad Gill

Detroit, Michigan, USA

``Some glaring omissions in the author’s coverage include Ahmad Nadim Qasmi.....``

Ah -- Ahmad Nadim Qasmi -- as they say -- bigra shair, maseeya go -- bigra gawayya, mazaari qawwaal -- bigra taraqqee pasand shair, poor Pakistani humd/naat go -- what a regression for pir Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi.

Even Ismail Meeruthi could write better humd --shukr adaa kar Rub ka bhai -- jisney hamari gai banai.

No harm done omitting Qoward Qasmi… as long you mentioned -- Faiz Ahmad Faiz -- young man.

Ylh,

Just introsepect when you say

``Every single one of Naseem Hijazi`s book contains the regular formula : Islam is Great every thing else evil ...``

If ever you get to be equivalent to Naseem Hijazi my children will be writing about you Every single one of YLH`s book contains the regular formula:Jinnah is great every other leader is EVIL``

Yasser Latif Hamdim,Naseem Hijazi might have been just as you ,passionate about his belief as you are about yours.Do you hate yourself ?

Fight EKLAVYA fight. You have given so much to us but this is the moment to give us your best-yourself. We all love you and wishing you all the best.

Pravin, please keep us updating his condition as often as you possibly can.

[ Reply #: 6

Truth

All the best to you, Eklavya.]

From all of us here Eklaviya,we are praying for your fast & complete recovery .Ameen!

Here is another urdu/english dictionary site ,i posted earlier in another forum,for you ,Eklaviya ,which you loved so much .

http://urdudict0.tripod.com/

Pravin:

I`m trying to get Rajans home number in Dallas. You can call his roommate there who has all details of his family back home in Lucknow. Am calling to find out this minute. Please email me at brokeneggshells@yahoo.com at the earliest.

P.S: Give him a big huggie from me.

Since the chowk`s editorial policy is geared more towards quantity rather than quality I would suggest that the chowk add an Adolescent section where a piece such as this along with several of yLH articles be published .... - Perhaps there is a ``teen`` audience at the chowk whose needs could be thus catered....

Bijli:

I concur with your thoughts!

Yasser, having read Naseem Hijazi not once but many times; I am amazed to read your sweeping statement. Please do contemplate on what ``Karuk`` I am sorry ``Bijli`` advised. :)


Farid:

Interesting perspectives. I will come back to them later.

Take Care

Bijli, it is when I am attacked that I respond. I have no intention of making anyone look evil... but when the facts come out, facts come out.

-YLH

I learnt nothing new or informational from your article.

Outside Progressive Writers Union, Tafheem-Ul-Quran by Maulana Maudoodi is the most well-known piece of Urdu literature of twentieth century. Was Baheshti Zaivar also twentieth century literature?

Most visible evolution of Urdu has taken place in the later part of twentieth century. It is the decline of Persian and Arabic words and an increase in Hindustani words by progressive writers.

Strong identificatin of Urdu in twentieth century with Muslims and Arabic alphabet has hurt interest in Urdu among non-Muslims.

Urdu ( and other Pakistani languages) must adopt Roman alphabets like Turkish to break the cultural/ alphabetic barrier. Otherwise interest in Urdu will continue declining in the twentyfirst century. It will increase influence of Urdu without relying on TNT and religion. In future Urdu will need innovative marketing strategy. In Pakistan whichever language jumps first on the bandwagon of latin alphabets will benefit more. Given the small numbers, Balochi has the best chances to gain acceptance in Romanized alphabets easily.