Loss for World Literature: Legendary Urdu author, novelist SR Faruqi is no more
Shams Ur Rehman Alavi
NewsBits.in
BHOPAL: Legendary Urdu author, critic, poet and novelist Shamsur Rahman Faruqi is no more.
Faruqi was unwell and was undergoing treatment in Delhi till recently. He had just been brought back to his hometown, Allahabad, when he passed away. He was 85.
His daughter Mehr Afshan Farooqi confirmed it and tweeted, 'We reached Allahabad and father transitioned peacefully'.
Faruqi was a towering figure in Urdu world. His greatness lies in the amount of work he did, his extraordinary command over language, deep knowledge about Urdu, Persian, English and literature across the globe, his sense of history, a person who could tell you almost anything when in doubt about Urdu language and literature across centuries.
His modernist style had irked the traditionalists and contemporaries in the decade of sixties and even later. Many prominent litterateurs had differences with him over his literary criticism, but he wasn't just a critic & theorist. Whenever he took to fiction, he weaved magic with his words.
The stories that are included in Savaar and his novel are gems of world literature. Besides, he was an accomplished poet and his work on Mir Taqi Mir--the four volume Sher Shor Angez, as well as his writings on Dastans, are unparalleled. His Allahabad home had been the nucleus of Urdu literary world, for over half-a-century.
It's in the truest sense--End of an Era. He was editor of path-breaking magazine Shabkhoon, a towering figure in Urdu and world literature, a critic, novelist, poet, author of magnum opus 'Kai Chaand The Sar-e-Aasman'. In fact, he could rightly be termed Shahanshan-e-Adab. Undoubtedly, it's a huge loss for the world of literature.
Shamsur Rahman Faruqi was born on September 20,1935 in Pratapgarh in United Provinces (now, Uttar Pradesh). He got his PG in English literature from Allahabad University, and passed the Allied services exam to become Superintendent Post Officer. However, despite his professional engagements, he continued his literary work and not just brought out the famous journal, Shabkhoon, but gave a filip to modernist trend in Urdu. He was recepient of the Saraswati Samman.
