Gopi Chand Narang

Gopi Chand Narang (born 11 February 1931) is an Indian theorist, literary critic and scholar who writes in Urdu and English. His Urdu literary criticism has incorporated a range of modern theoretical frameworks including stylistics, structuralism, post-structuralism and Eastern poetics.

Gopi Chand Narang
Gopi Chand Narang (left) receiving Sahitya Akademi Fellowship
Born (1931-02-11) 11 February 1931
Dukki, British India
(present day Baluchistan, Pakistan)
OccupationUrdu writer
NationalityIndian
Alma materUniversity of Delhi
Notable awardsPadma Bhushan (2004) Sahitya Akademi Award (1995), Ghalib Award (1985), President of Pakistan Gold Medal (1977), Iqbal Samman (2011), Professor Emeritus, Delhi University (2005–present), Moorti Devi Award (2012)
Website
www.gopichandnarang.com

Education

Narang received a master's degree in Urdu from the University of Delhi, and a research fellowship from the Ministry of Education to complete his PhD in 1958.

Teaching career

Narang taught Urdu literature at St. Stephen's College (1957–58) before joining Delhi University, where he became a reader in 1961. In 1963 and 1968 he was a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin, also teaching at the University of Minnesota and the University of Oslo. Narang joined Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi as a professor in 1974, rejoining the University of Delhi from 1986 to 1995. In 2005, the university named him a professor emeritus.

Narang's first book (Karkhandari Dialect of Delhi Urdu) was published in 1961, a sociolinguistic analysis of a neglected dialect spoken by indigenous workers and artisans Delhi. He has published over 60 books in Urdu, English, and Hindi.

Achievements

He has produced three studies: Hindustani Qisson se Makhooz Urdu Masnaviyan (1961), Urdu Ghazal aur Hindustani Zehn-o-Tehzeeb (2002) and Hindustan ki Tehreek-e-Azadi aur Urdu Shairi (2003). Narang's related volumes—Amir Khusrow ka Hindavi Kalaam (1987), Saniha-e-Karbala bataur Sheri Isti'ara (1986) and Urdu Zabaan aur Lisaniyaat (2006)—are socio-cultural and historical studies.

In addition to teaching, Narang was vice-chairman of the Delhi Urdu Academy (1996–1999) and the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language – HRD (1998–2004) and vice-president (1998–2002) and president (2003–2007) of the Sahitya Akademi.

Honours

Narang has been recognized for his work. He was an Indira Gandhi Memorial Fellow of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts from 2002 to 2004, and a 1997 resident of the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Italy. Narang received the Mazzini Gold Medal (Italy, 2005), the Amir Khusrow Award (Chicago, 1987), a Canadian Academy of Urdu Language and Literature Award (Toronto, 1987), an Association of Asian Studies (Mid-Atlantic Region) Award (US, 1982), a European Urdu Writers Society Award (London, 2005), an Urdu Markaz International Award (Los Angeles, 1995) and an Alami Farogh-e-Urdu Adab Award (Doha, 1998). He is the only Urdu writer honoured by the presidents of both India and Pakistan. In 1977 Narang received the President's National Gold Medal from Pakistan for his work on Allama Iqbal, and received a Padma Bhushan (2004) and Padma Shri (1990) from India.[1] He received honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from Aligarh Muslim University (2009), Maulana Azad National Urdu University (2008) and the Central University in Hyderabad (2007). Narang received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1995, the Ghalib Award in 1985, Urdu Academy's Bahadur Shah Zafar Award, Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Award (both in 2010), Madhya Pradesh Iqbal Samman (2011) and the Bharatiya Jnanpith Moorti Devi Award (2012). The Sahitya Akademi conferred on Narang its highest honour, the Fellowship, in 2009.[2]

Plagiarism and controversies

There have been allegations of plagiarism against Gopi Chand Narang for copying and translating from secondary sources major portions of his Sahitya Akademi award-winning book Sakhtiyat, Pas-Sakhtiyat aur Mashriqui Sheriyat (Structuralism, Post-Structuralism and Eastern Poetics) but Narang has responded to it and now it has been proved that the allegations were baseless and a result of maligning campaign. Narang has scholarly exposed the Urdu modernism and claimed that it was an anti-liberal movement hence he was targeted by the propagators of Urdu modernism like CM Naim.[3] Imran Shahid Bhinder and Prof. CM. Naim of Chicago University have provided textual evidence of plagiarism.[4][5] There have also been allegations of corruption and controversial appointments under his Presidency of Sahitya Akademi, which he headed from 2003 to 2007.[6][7]

However, the fact is that the plagiarism charges have been countered in a recent article titled "How author and critic Gopi Chand Narang survived a maligning campaign". The same article, in fact, exposes both Imran Shahid and C.M.Naim that how and why they had carried out a negative campaign against Narang and how they failed.[3]

Similarly, in a recent interview, Narang has responded to allegations of corruption during his tenure as the President of the Sahitya Akademi. Narang has said that if he had done something wrong those who carried out false propaganda should have gone to the court. It was libelous and baseless allegations on the ground of personal animosity.[8]

Bibliography

Narang has published more than 60 scholarly and critical books on language, literature, poetics and cultural studies; many have been translated into other Indian languages.

Urdu
  • Hindustani Qisson Se Makhuz Urdu Masnawiyan (1961)
  • Iqbal Ka Fann (ed. 1983)
  • Usloobiyat- e-Mir (1985)
  • Urdu Afsana, Riwayat Aur Masail (ed. 1986)
  • Saniha-e-Karbala Bataur Sheri Isti’ara (1986)
  • Amir Khusrau Ka Hindavi Kalaam (1987)
  • Adbi Tanqeed Aur Usloobiyat (1989)
  • Sakhtiyat, Pas-Sakhtiyat aur Mashriqui Sheriyat (1993)
  • Urdu Ghazal aur Hindustani Zehn-o Tahzeeb (2002)
  • Hindustan ki Tehreek-e-Azadi aur Urdu Shairi (2003)
  • Taraqqi Pasandi, Jadidiat, Maba’d-e-Jadidiat (2004)
  • Jadidiat ke baad (2005)
  • Urdu Zaban aur Lisaniyat (2006)
  • Dekhna Taqreer ki Lazzat (2009)
  • Fiction Sheriyat (2009)
  • Kaghaz-e Atish Zadah (2011)
  • Tapish Nama-e Tamanna (2012)
  • Aaj ki Kahaniyan (2013)
  • Ghalib : Ma'ni-Afrini, Jadliyaati Waza', Shunyata aur Sheriyaat (Ghalib : Meaning, Mind, Dialectical Thought & Poetics) (2013)

English
  • Karkhandari Dialect of Delhi Urdu (1961)
  • Urdu Language and Literature: Critical Perspectives (1991)
  • Readings in Literary Urdu Prose (ed. 1965)
  • Rajinder Singh Bedi: Selected Short Stories (ed. 1989)
  • Krishan Chander: Selected Short Stories (ed. 1990)
  • Balwant Singh: Selected Short Stories (ed. 1996)
  • Let's Learn Urdu (2000)

Hindi
  • Amir Khusro ka Hindavi Kalam (1987)
  • Urdu Par Khulta Dareecha (2004)
  • Samrachnavad, Uttar-Samrachnavad evam Prachya Kavyashastra (2000)
  • Urdu Kaise Likhen (2001)
gollark: What about `^`, `*`, `*`, unary `-`, `%` etc?
gollark: Ah, you want arrow operators.
gollark: So this, but without passing the result of one to the other...?
gollark: You mean, combine their bytecode or something insane?
gollark: That's basically what this does?

References
  1. "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 November 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  2. "Fellows & Honorary Fellows". Sahitya Akademi. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  3. "How author and critic Gopi Chand Narang survived a maligning campaign". Cafe Dissensus Everyday. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  4. "Plagiarize And Prosper | C.M. Naim". Outlookindia.com. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  5. "The Emperor's New Clothes | C.M. Naim". Outlookindia.com. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  6. "War And No Peace | Sugata Srinivasaraju". Outlookindia.com. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  7. "Bibliofile". Outlookindia.com. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  8. "Writing Matters: In conversation with Dr Gopi Chand Narang". kitaab. Retrieved 15 June 2020.

Further reading
  • Narang, Gopi Chand in Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1989, ISBN 81-260-1804-6.
  • Jadeed Adabi Theory aur Gopi Chand Narang by Maula Bakhsh, New Delhi, 2009, ISBN 978-81-8223-536-6.
  • Deedawar Naqqad by Shahzad Anjum, New Delhi, 2002, ISBN 8187667648.
  • Insha Special number on Gopi Chand Narang, ed. by F. S. Ejaz, Kolkata, 2005, ISBN 8186346198.
  • Gopi Chand Narang: Bainul Aqwami Urdu Shakhsiyat, ed. by Nand Kishore Vikram, New Delhi 2008, ISBN 9788188298020.
  • Kaarwan-e Adab's special issue on Gopi Chand Narang, ed. by Javed Yazdani and Kausar Siddiqui, Bhopal, March 2012. RNI No.: MPURD/2005/16563.
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