Urdu Adab Ki Riwaayat Kya Hai?

By Muhammad Hasan Askari Outward circumstances suggest that poetry and literature are now on their way out of this world. People generally explain this by arguing that literature struggles to survive in the face of science and industrialization. Yet,

Riwaayat Kya Hai?

From the outside, the architecture of the house is Euclidean; the entrance hall is Rococo. The drawing room features Queen Anne furniture, while the sitting room is furnished with modern Italian chairs. The dining room boasts an electric dishwasher alongside

Insaan Aur Aadmi

An important point about this essay is that it consumed several weeks. I did not spend this time writing, nor even thinking. Even if I possessed the ability to think continuously and consistently about a theoretical subject for that long, it would remain

Aadmi Aur Insaan

Fasaadaat Aur Hamaara Adab

The riots of 1947 represent a colossal national tragedy for Muslims, the effects of which have touched the life of every single one of us—some more profoundly than others, but none have remained entirely unaffected. It is highly probable that such events

Marxiyat aur Adabi Mansooba-bandi

The status and significance of Marxism in the history of human civilization and thought are so well-established that reiterating them is a waste of time. Provided one is not blinded by prejudice, no one would hesitate to admit that Marxism has attempted

Adab Aur Inqilaab

What is the relationship between literature and revolution? Should literature aid the cause of revolution? If so, to what extent? Before attempting to answer these questions, we must first define what "revolution" actually means. Often, those who champion

Muhaawron Ka Mas'ala

By Muhammad Hasan Askari Among the countless afflictions of this wretched thing called literature, one major dilemma is that if you try to isolate and understand a single element apart from the rest, your understanding remains woefully incomplete.

Fun Baraaye Fun

Some people complain that I take a perfectly good academic subject and cheapen it by writing in the language of the working class. Heaven knows why these gentlemen have not yet noticed an even more alarming and fundamental vulgarity in my approach. When

Tareekhi Shaoor

The causes of literary stagnation can be political as well as economic. However, among other factors, a major reason is that the demands the current era is making on intellectuals are highly unexpected, leaving them in a state of dilemma. Voices from

Manto

Manto Fasaadaat Par

Over the past decade, the New Literature movement has made invaluable contributions to Urdu fiction. However, it cannot be denied that the driving force behind most of these new short stories was not an inner creative urge, but rather external circumstances

Adab-o-fun Mein Fohsh Ka Mas'ala

Last month, during his discussions, Firaq Sahib selected a few couplets generally considered obscene and explained why they are not. In any debate—and particularly in this debate on obscenity—rather than establishing rigid formulas and arguing over absolute

Mazedaar Shaa'ir

Sitaara Ya Baadbaan

Isti'aare Ka Khauf

The people who initiated the movement to imitate the West in our literature during the nineteenth century had never actually read Western literature themselves. Having heard it translated by others, they became acquainted not with the literature itself,

Meer Ji

Kuchh Firaaq Sahab Ke Baare Mein

Meer Aur Naee Ghazal-1

It is becoming increasingly clear that our ghazal is now being influenced more by Mir than by Ghalib. The reason for this is not merely a desire for variety. Today's ghazal poets are experiencing new intellectual and spiritual needs that Ghalib's poetry

Baare Aamon Ka Kuchh Bayaan Ho Jaye

Haiat ya Nairang-e-nazar?

By Muhammad Hasan Askari "Mysterious man! Tell me, whom do you love the most? Your father, mother, sister, or brother?" "I have neither father, nor mother, nor sister, nor brother." "Your friends?" "You have used a word whose meaning I have not understood

Fanni Takhleeq Aur Dard

Ezra Pound once remarked that a critic should raise certain questions that have no answers. Some of these questions should be such that they offer no practical benefit to either writers or literature. I raised a similar question in my previous piece:

Hamaare Haan Mazaah Kyun Nahi?

Ahmad Ali Aur Kaafka

Azeem Beig Chughtaai

Meer Aur Naee Ghazal-2

A month or two ago, I mentioned that over the past two or three years, the ghazal has become far more popular than before. However, since there has been no fundamental change in the intellectual habits of our poets, nor has any new breadth or depth emerged