Ralph Russell

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Ralph Russell
رالف رسل
Born21 May 1918
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
Known forBritish scholar of Urdu literature
Communist activist
Political partyCommunist Party of Great Britain (CPGB)
AwardsSitara-i-Imtiaz

Ralph Russell

Communist
.

Biography

Russell was born in

School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where he took a degree in Urdu (with Sanskrit as a subsidiary subject) in 1949.[3]

Upon graduation Russell spent a year on study leave at Aligarh Muslim University in India, before returning to teach Urdu and Urdu literature at SOAS.[3] Although he remained at SOAS for the rest of his career, he continued to lecture and conduct research at universities in both India and Pakistan. He wrote articles and essays in Urdu and English, and attended literary seminars and workshops on the subject of his specialization.[4]

For much of his life Russell was a member of the

Comintern, Georgi Dimitrov.[5]

Russell was awarded the

Sitara-e-Imtiaz in recognition of his services to Urdu language and literature by the Government of Pakistan. Loughton Town Council installed a blue plaque
to Russell at his boyhood home on 6 Queen's Road in that town, which was inaugurated with a reception given by the present owners for family, friends and colleagues on 15 July 2013.

Books

  • Three Mughal Poets, 1968[6]
  • Ghalib, life and letters, 1969
  • New course in Urdu and spoken Hindi for learners in Britain, 1997
  • The pursuit of Urdu literature 1992
  • Selections from the Persian Ghazals of Ghalib with Translations 1997
  • An Anthology of Urdu Literature 1999
  • How not to write the history of Urdu literature 1999
  • The Famous Ghalib 2000
  • The Oxford India Ghalib: Life, Letters and Ghazals 2003
  • The Seeing Eye: Selection from the Urdu and Persian Ghazals of Ghalib 2003
  • Urdu in Britain (Ed), 1982
  • Ghalib: The Poet and his Age (Ed) 1997
  • A Thousand Yearnings: a Book of Urdu Poetry and Prose (Trans) 2017[7]

Autobiography

  • Findings, keeping: Life, Communism and everything 2001
  • Losses, Gains published by Three Essays, New Delhi, 2010

In Urdu

  • Urdu Adab ki Justuju (Urdu translation of The Pursuit of Urdu Literature/Curiosity about Urdu literature), by Muhammad Sarwar Rija (2003)
  • Juyinda Yabinda (Urdu translation of his autobiography, by Arjumand Ara), City Press, Karachi, 2005[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ "University News", The Times, 19 June 1939, p. 8.
  2. ^ "University News", The Times, 7 June 1940, p. 3.
  3. ^ a b c d "About Me and My Work for Urdu". ralphrussell.co.uk.
  4. ^ "Home". ralphrussell.co.uk.
  5. ^ "Urdu Books of Ralph Russell".
  6. ^ "Books by Ralph Russell (Author of a Thousand Yearnings)".
  7. ^ "Ralph Russell". Amazon.

External links