A Life in Urdu - Personal Encounters and Selected Essays on Urdu Literature by Ralph Russell

This book brings together writings by Ralph Russell, the eminent twentieth-century Urdu scholar. Written in his lively, accessible style, it provides a unique introduction for those new to Urdu literature, and unusual insights for those familiar with it. Part 1 is autobiographical, describing contacts with Urdu speakers over a long life, Part 2 discusses key figures in Urdu literature, and Part 3 has esssays on Urdu's literary history and its social context.

List of contents

• Foreword by Marion Molteno


• Part 1: Personal Encounters


• 1. Learning Urdu in Wartime India [1942-5]


• 2. First Encounters with Urdu Literature [1946-50]


• 3. Experiencing Village Life [1950 and 1976]


• 4. An Infidel Among Believers [1999]


• Part 2: On Urdu and its Literature


• 5. An Eighteenth Century Satirist [1959]


• 6. Rusva and Premchand: Stories of Courtesans [1970 and 1992]


• 7. Popular Literature [1973]


• 8. Remarkable Women: Two Memoirs [2002-6]


• 9. Urdu Poetry versus the Fundamentalists [2001]


• 10. On Translating Ghalib [1969]


• Part 3: On Language and Literary History


• 11. Leadership in the Progressive Writers' Movement [1977]


• 12. Aziz Ahmad and Literary Sources for South Asian History [1983]


• 13. Hindi and Urdu: Languages and Scripts [1971-96]


• 14. How Not to Write the History of Urdu Literature [1987]


• Afterword: Ralph Russell, As Others Saw Him


• Books by Ralph Russell


• Editor's Note


• Sources and References

About the author

Ralph Russell (1918 - 2008) has been widely recognised as the greatest western scholar of Urdu. Khushwant Singh described him as 'the most revered name of interpreters of Ghalib's life and works.' His unusual skill as a translator and his accessible writing have opened up an appreciation of Urdu literature to a wide range of readers, and his honesty, humour and unusual insight have won him a unique place in the affections of lovers of Urdu worldwide. For thirty years he headed the Urdu department at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and was a popular visiting scholar in India and Pakistan. He pioneered the teaching of Urdu to English speakers in communities across the UK, to encourage mutual understanding between people of different backgrounds. His books published by OUP include The Oxford India Ghalib: Life, Letters and Ghazals; and with Khurshidul Islam, Three Mughal Poets.

Marion Molteno is the literary executor for Ralph Russell. She studied Urdu with

him and worked closed with him for the last 26 years of his life. She has edited several of his books, including his autobiography and his introduction to Ghalib's ghazals, The Famous Ghalib: The Sound of My Moving Pen (2015) and A Thousand Yearnings: A Book of Urdu Poetry & Prose (2016). She has written and lectured widely on issues of education and development, and is the author of four novels, all of which have won or been shortlisted for international prizes. Her latest novel, Uncertain Light (2015) was a finalist for the Indie Book Awards and the International Rubery Book Awards.

Summary

This book brings together writings by Ralph Russell, the eminent twentieth-century Urdu scholar, which illuminates his life-long engagement with Urdu speakers and their literature. Written in his lively, accessible style, it provides a unique introduction for those new to Urdu literature, and unusual insights for those familiar with it. Part 1 is autobiographical, describing how he first came in contact with Urdu speakers when conscripted into the Indian Army during World War II; and later encounters, which portray his warm character and his interest in people. Part 2 comprises essays on key figures in Urdu literature, reflecting his personal interests. Poets of the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries, early novelists, popular literature, and memoirs by remarkable women. Russell is best known as an authority on Ghalib, and one essay describes his approach to translating Ghalib's ghazals. Part 3 has essays on language and literary history, characterized by his combination of meticulous scholarship with a broad understanding of social and political contexts. The Foreword by Marion Molteno, his student and editor, and now his literary executor, introduces readers to his life and work. The Afterword brings together appreciations by some of the hundreds of people who were influenced by him.

Product details

• Authors: Ralph Russell
• Assisted by: Marion Molteno (Editor)
• Publisher: Oxford Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 16.06.2023
• EAN: 9789391050948
• ISBN: 978-93-91050-94-8
• No. of pages: 256
• Dimensions: 145 mm x 222 mm x 16 mm
• Weight: 362 g
• Subject: Non-fiction book > History > Biographies, autobiographies