Ahmed Ali (writer)
Ahmed Ali | |
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Born | 1 July 1910 Delhi, British India |
Died | 14 January 1994 Karachi, Pakistan | (aged 83)
Occupation | Writer |
Known for | one of the founders of All-India Progressive Writers Movement |
Part of a series on |
Progressive Writers' Movement |
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Ahmed Ali (
Biography
Ahmed Ali was born in Delhi,
In 1948, he moved to
Ali died on 14 January 1994 in Karachi.[1]
Literary career
Ali started his literary career at a young age and became a co-founder of the
Ali achieved international fame with his first novel written in English Twilight in Delhi, which was published by the Hogarth Press in London in 1940.[8] This novel, as its title implies, describes the decline of the Muslim aristocracy with the advance of British colonialism in the early 20th century.[1]
Al-Quran, A Contemporary Translation (Princeton University Press, Oxford University Press & Akrash Publishing) is his most notable contribution in the field of translation. According to the book's description it is "approved by eminent Islamic scholars", and "it has come to be recognized as one of the best existing translations of the holy Quran."[citation needed] Other languages he translated from, apart from Arabic and Urdu, included Indonesian and Chinese.[9]
Awards and recognition
- Elected a Founding Fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Letters in 1979.[citation needed]
- Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) Award in 1980 by the President of Pakistan[citation needed]
- Conferred an honorary doctorate degree in 1993 by the University of Karachi.[citation needed]
- On 14 January 2005, Pakistan Post issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honour in its 'Men of Letters' series.[citation needed]
Works
Novels
- Twilight in Delhi(1940)
- Ocean of Night(1964)
- Rats and Diplomats(1986)
Plays
- The Land of Twilight (1931)
- Break the Chains (1932)
Short stories
- "When the Funeral Was Crossing the Bridge," in Lucknow University Journal, 1929.
- "Mahavaton Ki Ek Rât," in Humayûn (Lahore), January 1931.
- Angarey (1932). With Rashid Jahan, Mahmuduzzafar and Sajjad Zaheer.
- Sholey (1934)
- "Our Lane," in New Writing (London), 1936.
- Hamari Gali (1940)
- "Morning in Delhi," in New Writing (London), 1940.
- Qaid-khana (1942)
- Maut se Pahle (1945)
- "Before Death," in New Directions 15 (New York), 1956.
- Prima della Morte (1966). Bilingual Italian-Urdu version of Maut se Pahle.
- The Prison-House (1985)
Poetry
- Purple Gold Mountain (Keepsake Press, 1960)
- First Voices (1965)
- Selected Poems (1988)
Literary criticism
- "Poetry: A Problem,” in Allahabad University Studies, vol. XI, no. II, 1934.
- Art ka Taraqqî-Pasand Nazariya (1936)
- “Maxim Gorky as a Short-Story Writer," in Lucknow University Journal, 1938.
- Mr. Eliot's Penny-World of Dreams (1941)
- Failure of an Intellect (1968)
- "Illusion and Reality, the Art and Philosophy of Raja Rao," in Journal of Commonwealth Literature, July 1968.
- The Problem of Style and Technique in Ghalib (1969)
- Ghalib: Two Essays (1969). With Alessandro Bausani.
- The Golden Tradition: An Anthology of Urdu Poetry (1973)
Translation
- The Flaming Earth (1949). An anthology of selected Indonesian poems.
- The Falcon and the Hunted Bird (1950)
- The Bulbul and the Rose: An Anthology of Urdu Poetry (1960)
- Ghalib: Selected Poems (1969)
- al-Qur’ân: A Contemporary Translation (1984)
- The Call of the Trumpet (unpublished). An anthology of modern Chinese poetry
References
- ^ a b c d Profile of Ahmed Ali (writer) on Encyclopædia Britannica Retrieved 31 August 2019
- ^ Dr. T. Jeevan Kumar, "Ahmed Ali: A Progressive Writer" in The English Literature Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2014):57
- ^ Orwell and Politics. Penguin UK, 2001 on Google Books Retrieved 23 April 2018
- ^ a b Introduction by the author, Ahmed Ali, Twilight in Delhi, Rupa Publishing Co., Delhi, 1993
- ISBN 000215725X.[page needed]
- ^ "Angaaray by Sajjad Zaheer". goodreads.com website. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- ^ The Leader of Allahabad, 5 April 1933
- ^ Twilight in Delhi, The Hogarth Press, 1940; Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1966; OUP, Karachi, 1984; Sterling Paperbacks, Delhi, 1973; New Directions, New York, 1994; Rupa Publications, Delhi, 2007; Urdu translation, Akrash Press, Karachi, 1963, Jamia Millia, Delhi, 1969; (French) French translation, Editions Gallimard, Paris, 1989; Spanish translation, Ediciones Martinez Roca, 1991.
- ^ Alamgir Hashmi, "Ahmed Ali and the Transition to a Postcolonial Mode in the Pakistani Novel in English" in Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. 33/34, No. 1/2 (1998/1999), p. 256
External links
- Online Quran includes the Qur'antranslation by Ahmed Ali.
- Twilight in Delhi – a novel by Ahmed Ali on GoogleBooks website