Ghalib A Wilderness at My Doorstep

Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib was born in Agra in the closing years of the eighteenth century. A precocious child he began composing verses at an early age and gained recognition while he was still very young. He wrote in both Urdu and Persian and was also a great prose stylist. He was a careful even strict editor of his work who took to publishing long before his peers. His predilection for writing difficult obscure poetry peppered with complex metaphors produced a unique commentarial tradition that did not extend beyond his work. Commentaries on his current Urdu divan have produced a field of critical writing that eventually lead to the crafting of a critical lens with which to view the classical ghazal. The nineteenth century was the height of European colonialism. British colonialism in India produced definitive changes in the ways literature was produced circulated and consumed. Ghalib responded to the cultural challenge with a far-sightedness that was commendable. His imagination sought engagement with a wider community of readers. His deliberate switch to composing in Persian shows that he wanted his works to reach beyond political boundaries and linguistic barriers.Ghalib's poetic trajectory begins from Urdu then moves to composing almost entirely in Persian and finally swings back to Urdu. It is nearly as complex as his poetry. However his poetic output in Persian is far more than what he wrote in Urdu. More important is that he gave precedence to Persian over Urdu. Ghalib's voice presents us with a double bind a linguistic paradox. Exploring his life works and philosophy this authoritative critical biography of Ghalib opens a window to many shades of India and the subcontinent's cultural and literary tradition. Review 'An outstanding and much-needed critical biography of the greatest poet in Urdu . . . it sends us back to Ghalib's writing and reminds us of the delightful khushbagh that awaits anyone who wishes to explore this lost syncretic world of such deep profundity wit subtlety and beauty' -- WILLIAM DALRYMPLE acclaimed writer and historian'Brimming with lively translations and fresh insights into Ghalib's life career and complex relationship with Urdu and Persian Farooqi offers a deeply researched examination of the great poet's approach to his asymmetrical oeuvre for a wider readership and the literary-historical stakes of those decisions' -- MUZAFFAR ALAM George V. Bobrinskoy Professor in South Asian Languages and Civilizations University of Chicago'We finally have a proper literary biography of Ghalib. This book tells the story of a much-loved and read poet's life in the context of a multilingual age when courtly Mughal and nascent modern literary cultures overlapped. Farooqi's command over the original sources and passionate engagement with the poet and his works is demonstrated on every page' -- SUNIL SHARMA professor of Persianate and comparative literature Boston UniversityAn outstanding and much-needed critical biography of the greatest poet in Urdu. It is deeply scholarly yet completely accessible and casts a judicious but impartial eye over all the major literary battlefields surrounding Ghalib's work in both Urdu and Persian. It brings to light many dazzling new poems and renders them into English with beautiful translations. Above all it sends us back to Ghalib's writing and reminds us of the delightfulkhushbagh that awaits any who wish to explore this lost syncretic world of such deep profundity wit subtlety and beauty. -- William DalrympleBrimming with lively translations and fresh insights into Ghalib's life career and complex relationship with Urdu and PersianGhalib offers a deeply researched examination of the great poet's approach to his asymmetrical oeuvre for a wider readership and the literary-historical stakes of those decisions. Farooqi also examines the intricacies of Ghalib's critical engagement with earlier