Daastaan Kya Hai?

By Kalimuddin Ahmad "Dastan-telling is among the literary arts; truth be told, it is a fine art for entertaining the heart." — Ghalib "Once there was a king; God is your king and mine; the Messenger of God is king. The sparrow brought a grain

Urdu Adab Mein Tanz-o-zaraafat

Tanqeed Kya Hai?

(1) Introduction   On the surface, the accumulated wealth of literary criticism appears vast, but much of it is rather superficial and hollow at its core. You may have seen George Saintsbury’s massive tome, *A History of Criticism*, and perhaps

Riwaayaat Aur Urdu Shayari

Urdu poetry inherited two distinct traditions. On one hand were Persian traditions, tinged with Arabic influences; on the other were Bhasha and Sanskrit traditions, whose roots spread deep and wide into the natural, social, and religious fabric of India.

Tanqeed Aur Adabi Tanqeed

Tahleel-e-nafsi Aur Fun

(A) It is claimed that psychoanalysis "can reveal the factors that make a person artistically creative." If psychoanalysis did nothing else but this, it would deserve congratulations from both literary criticism and humanity. The world has been waiting

Alfaaz Aur Shayari

There is an inevitable connection between words and poetry. Urdu poets, however, seem entirely oblivious to this bond. To traverse the stages of poetry, the guidance of words is essential. If words do not act as guides, one cannot take a single step

Daastaan Ki Technique

"Nowhere was the tradition of *dastan-goi* (storytelling) more celebrated than in Lucknow. Twenty or twenty-five true friends and agreeable companions would gather at a spot during the night—the veil of lovers. Someone is peeling sugarcane; another is

Fun Ka Eik Nazariya

Art is not an artificial entity. It is not an unnatural product brought into existence through the unnatural suppression of our natural, primal impulses. It is fundamentally a human creation. It has no place in the animal kingdom, and it is the most

Sheariyat Kya Hai?

Suroor Sahib states, "There is a lack of poeticness in the poetry section of *Ma'asir*. By poeticness, I do not mean that melodiousness to which you alluded, but rather that intensity of emotion, that passionate ecstasy, that habit of expressing a thought

Radio Aur Culture

(1) The advancement of science has transformed the entire world, yet science itself is not a new phenomenon. It was born the very first time human beings began utilizing their surroundings for their own comfort and progress. Initially, the pace of

Funkaar Aur La-shaoor

Freud writes, "You are under the illusion that you possess psychological freedom, and you do not want to give it up. I am sorry to say that I disagree with your view here." The Freudian school rejects freedom and claims to have established psychological

Urdu Ki Ishqiya Shayari

*Urdu Ki Ishqiya Shairi* (Urdu Love Poetry) is a work by Mr. Raghupati Sahay Firaq. Firaq is among the few educated individuals who reflect upon literature and literary issues objectively, and who possess the intellectual capacity to do so. *Urdu Ki

Mirza Ghalib Kaleem-ud-deen Ahmad Ki Nazar Mein