Shamsur Rahman Farooqi

thumb|Shamsur Rahman Faruqi Shamsur Rahman Faruqi (30 September 1935 – 25 December 2020) was an eminent Indian Urdu critic, theorist, lexicographer, and linguist. He is widely recognized for pioneering and consolidating modernism (Jadeediyat) in Urdu literature. He formulated new models of literary criticism by synthesizing Western critical theories with the classical aesthetic traditions of Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, giving a profound new dimension to Urdu prose analysis. Quotes Literary Assessments and Movements The British certainly caused harm to Persian education in India, but they do not appear to have played a hand in depreciating Indian-born Persian poetry. In fact, the British seemingly made no distinction at all between the Indian and the Iranian schools. They even became disciples of Indian Persian poets and composed poetry exactly like them. Ghalib Par Char Tehriri'en (Four Essays on Ghalib), p. 10 Among my contemporaries and near-contemporaries, I have always preferred those for whom literature is not a game of conspiracies, but a reality that transcends life itself. If this is termed "groupism," then I consider myself fortunate to be a member of such a group. Sher, Ghair-Sher Aur Nasr (Poetry, Non-Poetry, and Prose), p. 21 Modernism in literature does not mean severing ties with the past. Rather, it is about giving the finest intellectual treasures of the past a new prose format that aligns with the changing social and mental demands of our own era. Nazriya-e-Jadeediyat (The Theory of Modernism), p. 45 Linguistics and Criticism Lexicography and the study of the history of words are, in reality, the study of a nation's cultural history. Words are not merely clusters of sounds; they hold within themselves the travelogue of a centuries-old civilizational journey. Lughat-e-Rozmarra (Daily Lexicon, Introduction), p. 8 The true triumph of criticism lies in evaluating a writer’s prose within its own linguistic and cultural era, rather than forcefully imposing the manufactured theories of our own time upon it. Tabeer Ki Sharah (Explanation of Interpretation), p. 124 Urdu prose possesses an extraordinary flexibility and intellectual depth capable of absorbing the world's most complex philosophical and scientific ideas. We only need to have faith in its expansiveness. Urdu Zaban Ka Ibtidai Ahad Aur Lisani Irtiqa (The Early Era and Linguistic Evolution of the Urdu Language), p. 76 External links Category:1935 births Category:2020 deaths Category:Urdu-language writers Category:Literary critics Category:Lexicographers Category:Linguists from India Category:Poets from India Category:Translators from India