tughra by Adil Mansuri, New Jersey, 2000
For almost my whole scholarly life I was most fortunate to have as an ustad and collaborator the distinguished critic, and poet, and scholar, and editor, and story-writer, and now novelist, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi (1935-2020). His death was a sad loss to us all. If you'd like to make a memorial contribution to his favorite project, a girls' school in Allahabad, contact his daughter Mehr Farooqi <maf5y@virginia.edu>.

Here's an essay about his work by Muhammad Reza Kazimi (2004), and another by Nikhil Kumar (2019). Here are a few of his own informal thoughts (2010), and a video interview (2013). And here's my own suggestion about where to start: Early Urdu Literary Culture and History (2001)
 Finally, here's an online FESTSCHRIFT (2010-) that some of his admirers have put together in his honor. And here's my own memorial tribute to him.

Most of his work has been in Urdu (here's a bibliography of his most important Urdu work); but below are some of his major books, articles, and miscellanea in English. Here's a link to a recording of an interesting talk, with handout, that he gave in 1990.

 
 

Some of Shamsur Rahman Faruqi's work in English

*THE DATELIST OF URDU LITERARY FIGURES*, a collaborative online resource maintained by Sean Pue, SRF, and FWP.



=A set of three pieces in The Beacon (spring 2020), particularly recommended by SRF (to Nikhil Kumar): 1) 'Conversation without maps'; 2) 'Mir in Chandigarh'; 3) 'Urdu writing over two centuries on nation, history, culture'.

="Mazmun, ma'ni, isti'arah" (Theme, Meaning, Metaphor), *in Urdu*, delivered as a talk at Aligarh in March 2020

="Dastan-e-Shamsur Rahman Faruqi," by Nikhil Kumar, from Caravan, April 1, 2019. A longer version of the article, provided by the author: on this site. The author also posted on his blog a memorial tribute to SRF (Dec. 2020).

="What's in a Name?," some thoughts about the renaming of Allahabad which appeared in a slightly edited form in the online Indian Express, October 28, 2018

=Some informal thoughts about meter, especially the difference between Urdu and English meter, October 2018

=SRF on his childhood reading, in response to questions from Carla Petievich, Sept. 17, 2018

="The Marginalized Muslim," an article, March 2017; published in a modified form in The Indian Express, Apr. 5, 2018

="Urdu Writing over Two Centuries on Nation, History, Culture: 1800-2017", keynote address, Anjuman Taraqqi-e Urdu (Hind), New Delhi, March 15, 2018

=Some thoughts on Dakani in reply to queries, provided by SRF, Feb. 2018

=An interview about Naiyar Mas'ud, for FountainInk, August 2017

="On Reading Ghalib with Western Eyes", draft of an article forthcoming in a collection to be edited by Mazhar Mehdi, 2017

="Faruqi's World," an interview by Aasim Akhtar, The News on Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015; also *on this site*

=A foreword to "Delhi: Pages from a Forgotten History," by Arthur Dudney (Hay House India, 2015)

=An interview on translation by Trisha Gupta for Scroll.in, Mar. 25, 2015

="World of Faruqi," a short film by Headlines Today, Dec. 27, 2014

="Dastan-go'i," a video interview by Mahmood Farooqui, June 15, 2014

="The Name and Nature of a Language: Would Urdu by any other Name Smell as Sweet?", keynote address at a conference on India's composite culture, March 7, 2014

=An interview by LiveMint, Nov. 15, 2014

="The Beginnings," a video interview by Mahmood Farooqi, July 5, 2013

=About The Mirror of Beauty, spring/summer 2013 and beyond, email interviews and other material:
*with Sonal Shah*, also on the NYT India website; *with Sivapriya, of Penguin Books*; *with Smitha Verma, of The Telegraph*; *with Alankrita, of First City*; *with Jeff Tompkins, of the Asia Society* (and here's his official version on his Asia Society blog); *with Asif Farrukhi*, in Dawn, Sept. 15, 2013, along with a discussion by Mehr Afshan Farooqi, SRF's daughter; *with Mahmood Farooqui*, for Libas International, Lahore; *with Albeena Shakil and Promodini Varma* of Delhi University, for a forthcoming book, Apr. 2014; an overview of his translation theory for the novel, Feb. 2018

="Faruqi on Faruqi, May 2013," a personal account in the third person

=A video of an Urdu lecture, "Urdu adab ki sachchi triveni," Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Feb. 28, 2013

="A Genuine Document," Outlook India, Jan. 31, 2013; a review of Maargir by Bashir Sakhavarz; also *on this site*

="Translating Difficulties," a paper for a translation workshop, Jamia Millia Islamia, Mar. 20, 2012

="Habib-un-Nisa," Tehelka, Jan. 7, 2012; an excerpt from the author's novel The Mirror of Beauty.

=*On translating Ibn-e Safi*, two email interviews, May 7, 2011

="The Truths of Fictions", Ahmed Ali Memorial Lecture, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, Feb. 23, 2011

="Zauq o shauq", by Iqbal, trans. from the Urdu by SRF for a talk at the Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, Sept. 24th, 2010

="The Satires of Sauda (1706-1781)", September 2010

="The Meaning of Poetry in Our Lives Today", inaugural lecture at the Thunchan Festival, Tirur, Kerala, Feb. 4, 2010

="The Novel in the Twenty-first Century, Text and Context", Allahabad University, Dec. 1, 2009

="The Historical Novel and the Historical Narrative", Jamia Millia, New Delhi, Nov. 16, 2009

="The Need for a New and Comprehensive Persian Literary Theory", inaugural address at the Conference on Modern Persian Literature in the 20th Century, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Aug. 18, 2009

="The Truths of Fictions", Gopinath Mohanty Memorial Lecture, Bhubaneswar, April 20, 2009

="Urdu Literary Culture: The Syncretic Tradition", the keynote address at the Shibli Academy, Azamgarh, Dec. 17, 2008

="Mr Keats (if that be his real name)...", an old essay that the author recently found among his papers

="My Istanbul", an essay, 2008

="Burning Rage, Icy Scorn: The Poetry of Ja'far Zatalli", a talk at the University of Texas, Austin, Sept. 24, 2008

="A Modest Plea: Please, Could We Have A Proper History of Urdu Literature?", the keynote address at "UrduFest 2008," University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Sept. 12-13, 2008

="Five (or More) Ways for a Poet to Imitate Other Poets; or, Imitation in Sabk-i Hindi," May 2008

="Urdu Literarary Culture: the Syncretic Tradition," a seminar paper, Nov. 2007

="Urdu Literature," a draft of an encyclopedia article, Sept. 2007

="Urdu and Persian Literature in Allahabad," an essay, Aug. 2007

="My Writing Space," a brief description with a drawing, July 2007

=How to Read Iqbal? Essays on Iqbal, Urdu Poetry, and Literary Theory. Compiled and edited by Muhammad Suheyl Umar. Lahore: Iqbal Academy Pakistan, 2007.

="Brief meeting" [Mulaqat], by Faiz Ahmad Faiz, a translation from the Urdu by SRF. 

="From Antiquary to Social Revolutionary: Syed Ahmad Khan and the Colonial Experience." DRAFT text of the annual Sir Syed Memorial Lecture, Aligarh Muslim University, 2006, provided by the author

="Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib: Preface to Sayyid Ahmad Khan's edition of the A'in-e Akbari  (1855-56)." A translation from the Persian by S. R. Faruqi, 2006.

=The Flower-Lit Road: Essays in Urdu Literary Theory and Criticism. Allahabad: Laburnum Press, 2005. [A collection of many scattered pieces composed over the previous 25 years.]

="Translating the Nation." A talk at Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, Sept. 20, 2005.

="Primary Lesson in Poetry." Annual of Urdu Studies 20 (2005):1-33.

="How To Read Iqbal." Annual of Urdu Studies 20 (2005):1-33. The author has also provided his own earlier draft. And here's an easily printable version, with notes and original Urdu verse texts.

="A Stranger In The City: The Poetics of Sabk-i Hindi." The author's own version; the article also appeared in the Annual of Urdu Studies 19 (2004).

="The Poet in the Poem; or, Veiling the Utterance." From A Wilderness of Possibilities: Urdu Studies in Transnational Perspective (a festschrift in honor of C. M. Naim). Pp. 173-191. Ed. by Kathryn Hansen and David Lelyveld. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005. What is available here is a DRAFT version, in PDF format, rather than the final published form.

"Strategy for the Survival of Urdu in India Through School Education." The Zakir Husain Memorial Lecture, India International Centre, Feb. 2004, published in the Annual of Urdu Studies 21 (2006).

="A Long History of Urdu Literary Culture, Part 1." Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia. Sheldon Pollock, ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. This is a late-stage draft version.

="The Power Politics of Culture: Akbar Ilahabadi and the Changing Order of Things." Presented as the fourteenth Zakir Husain Memorial Lecture, at Zakir Husain College, New Delhi, January 2002. The talk was published in Think India  6,1 ( Jan.-Mar 2003). The author's Urdu version of the talk was published in Shabkhun 258 (July 2002):27-40. Here is the version published by Zakir Husain College, with original text citations in Urdu script and in Devanagari script.

=The Colour of Black Flowers: Selected Poems of Shamsur Rahman Faruqi. Trans. by Baidar Bakht, Leslie Lavigne, and Shamsur Rahman Faruqi. Karachi: City Press, 2002.

= Early Urdu Literary Culture and History. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001.

= Ab-e Hayat: Shaping the Canon of Urdu Poetry. By Muhammad Husain Azad [1880]. Translated, edited, and introduced by F. W. Pritchett and S. R. Faruqi. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001. xv, 474 p.

"Selections from Iqbal (Urdu)." SRF's list of Iqbal's best poems, with page numbers in the Kulliyat (2000).

="Conventions of Love, Love of Conventions: Urdu Love Poetry in the Eighteenth Century." Annual of Urdu Studies 14 (1999), pp. 3-32. The author has also provided here a LATER version, in PDF format, incorporating final changes that he wished to make.

="Unprivileged Power: The Strange Case of Persian (and Urdu) in Nineteenth-Century India." Annual of Urdu Studies 13 (1998), pp. 3-30.

="Saraswati Samman Award Acceptance Speech." Annual of Urdu Studies 13 (1998).

="A Conversation with Shamsur Rahman Faruqi" by Prem Kumar Nazar. Annual of Urdu Studies 13 (1998).

="Poetics of Coherence: Notional, Real, and Necessary Connections in Poems of Two Lines." A handout from a talk given at Penn on Oct. 8, 1997.

="Constructing a Literary History, a Canon, and a Theory of Poetry: Ab-e Hayat (1880) by Muhammad Husain Azad." In Social Scientist 23, 269-71 (1995), "Literary History, Region, and Nation in South Asia." Guest editor: Sheldon Pollock. (This is basically his introductory essay to Ab-e Hayat.)

="The Problem of Urdu in India--Political or Existential?: An Interview with S. R. Faruqi." Interviewer: Ather Farouqui. Trans. by M. U. Memon. Annual of Urdu Studies 10 (1995), pp. 157-67. 

=The Shadow of a Bird in Flight: A Collection of Persian Verses. Trans. by S. R. Faruqi. New Delhi: Rupa and Co., 1994. A more elegant PDF created by Javed Hussen is available here.

="Urdu Literature." In Ratna Sahai, ed.,  Muslims in India (New Delhi: Folio, [1994]), pp. 35-37.

="Weeping a flood of tears: ‘Make it new’." A handout from a talk given first at the Univ. of Chicago in April 1990, then at Penn in 1994. Here is a recording of THE CHICAGO TALK itself, introduced by C. M. Naim.

="Lyric Poetry in Urdu: the Ghazal," by S. R. Faruqi and F. W. Pritchett. Delos 3,3-4 (Winter 1991):7-12.

=A Listening Game: Poems by Saqi Farooqi. Translations from the Urdu of 35 poems by the modern Pakistani-British poet Saqi Farooqi, and an introduction, by F. W. Pritchett; with poems selected and a general introduction by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi. London: Lokamaya Press, 1987. 86 p. Second edition: London: Highgate Poets, 2001.

=An introduction to Selected Poems of Balraj Komal, trans. by Baidar Bakht and Leslie Lavigne, Toronto, 1989.

="Conflict, Transition, and Hesitant Resolution: A Survey of Urdu Literature, 1850-1975." New York, 1989; for publication in K. M. George, ed., Modern Indian Literature.

=Some informal study materials on mazmuns: "Love changes the lover's appearance" and  "The beloved's stature as a cypress," 1988

=Urdu ki na'i kitab: navin jama'at ke liye. New Delhi: National Council of Educational Research and Printing, 1986.

="Some Aspects of the Theory of Translation," December 1986.

="Faiz and the Classical Ghazal" (an Urdu essay by S. R. Faruqi). Trans. by F. W. Pritchett in collaboration with the author. The Indian Literary Review 4,1 (January 1986):59-64.

="Travel Diary" (trans. of a poem by N. M. Rashid). Trans. by S. R. Faruqi and F. W. Pritchett. Annual of Urdu Studies 5 (1985):20-21. This number of the Annual is now available online through DSAL.

=A recitation by SRF of Iqbal's "Masjid-e Qurtuba"; privately recorded, Delhi, 1984.

 ="Lyric Poetry in Urdu: Ghazal and Nazm."  By S. R. Faruqi and F. W. Pritchett.  In "The Lyric in India," ed. by Richard Williams, special number, Journal of South Asian Literature 19,2 (Summer-Fall 1984):111-127.

="‘The Vile World Carnival’:  A Shahr-ashob by Nazir Akbarabadi."  Trans. by S. R. Faruqi and F. W. Pritchett. Annual of Urdu Studies 4 (1984):24-35. This number of the Annual is now also available online through DSAL.

="‘In the Presence of the Nightingale’: A Shahr-ashob by Jur’at." Trans. by S. R. Faruqi and F. W. Pritchett. Annual of Urdu Studies 3 (1983):1-9. Also available online through DSAL

= "Jur’at’s Shahr-ashob: An Afterword." Annual of Urdu Studies 3 (1983), pp. 11-16.

= "Urdu ghazal ke chand masa'il." A talk *in Urdu* for the First Canadian Urdu Conference, Toronto, September 1982, in SRF's own handwriting.

=The Secret Mirror: Essays on Urdu Poetry. Delhi: Academic Literature, 1981. Online here: "Expression of the Indo-Muslim Mind in Urdu Ghazal," pp. 11-33; "Ghalib, the Difficult Poet," pp. 34-50; "A Ghazal by Ghalib," pp. 119-139; "A Ghazal of Zafar Iqbal," pp. 140-157.

="Expression of the Indo-Muslim Mind in Urdu Ghazal." Studies in the Urdu Gazal and Prose Fiction, ed. Muhammad Umar Memon. Madison: South Asia Center, University of Wisconsin at Madison, 1979. Pp. 1-23.

 

 

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