Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib was born in Agra in the closingyears of the 18th century. A precocious child, he began composing verses at anearly age and gained recognition while he was still very young.
He wrote in both Urdu and Persian and was also a great prosestylist. He was a careful, even strict, editor of his work who took topublishing long before his peers. His predilection for writing difficult,obscure poetry peppered with complex metaphors produced a unique commentarytradition that did not extend beyond his work.
Commentaries on his current Urdu 'divan' collection ofpoetry) have produced a field of critical writing that eventually lead to thecrafting of a critical lens with which to view the classical ghazal.
The 19th century was the height of European colonialism.British colonialism in India produced definitive changes in the ways literaturewas produced, circulated and consumed. Ghalib responded to the culturalchallenge with a far-sightedness that was commendable. His imagination soughtengagement with a wider community of readers. His deliberate switch tocomposing in Persian shows that he wanted his works to reach beyond politicalboundaries and linguistic barriers.
Ghalib's poetic trajectory begins from Urdu, then moves tocomposing almost entirely in Persian and finally swings back to Urdu. It isnearly as complex as his poetry. However, his poetic output in Persian is farmore than what he wrote in Urdu. More important is that he gave precedence toPersian over Urdu. Ghalib's voice presents us with a double bind, a linguisticparadox.
Exploring his life, works and philosophy, "Ghalib: AWilderness at My Doorstep" (Penguin) by Mehr Afshan Farooqi, anauthoritative critical biography of the poet, opens a window to many shades ofIndia and the subcontinent's cultural and literary tradition.
Mehr Afshan Farooqi grew up in Allahabad. A multiple goldmedallist from Allahabad University, Farooqi is currently associate professorof Urdu and South Asian Literature at the University of Virginia. Her researchpublications address complex issues of Urdu literary culture particularly inthe context of modernity. She is interested in bilingualism and how it impactscreativity.
A well-known translator, anthologist and columnist, she isthe editor of the pioneering two-volume work "The Oxford India Anthologyof Modern Urdu Literature". More recently, she has published the acclaimedmonograph "The Postcolonial Mind: Urdu Culture, Islam and Modernity in MuhammadHasan Askari".
(Source: IANS)