Qurratulain Hyder | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1927-01-20)20 January 1927 |
| Died | 21 August 2007(2007-08-21) (aged 80) Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Pen name | Aini Apā |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Alma mater | Lucknow University Indraprastha College |
| Genre | Novelist & short story writer |
| Notable works | Aag Ka Darya (River of Fire) (1959) |
| Notable awards | Sahitya Akademi Jnanpith Padma Bhusan |
| Parents | Syed Sajjad Haider Yaldram (Father), Nazar Sajjad Haider (Mother) |
Qurratulain Hyder (20 January 1927 – 21 August 2007) was an IndianUrdu novelist and short story writer, academic, and journalist. One of the most outstanding and influential literary names inUrdu literature, she is best known for hermagnum opus,Aag Ka Darya (River of Fire), a novel first published in Urdu in 1959, fromLahore,Pakistan, that stretches from the fourth century BC to postpartition of India.[1][2]
Popularly known as "Ainee Apa" among her friends and admirers, she was the daughter of writer and pioneer of Urdu short story writingSyed Sajjad Haider Yaldram (1880–1943). Her mother, Nazar Zahra, who wrote at first as Bint-i-Nazrul Baqar and later as Nazar Sajjad Hyder (1894–1967), was also a novelist and protegee ofMuhammadi Begam and her husbandSyed Mumtaz Ali, who published her first novel.
She received the 1967Sahitya Akademi Award inUrdu forPatjhar Ki Awaz (short stories), 1989Jnanpith Award forAkhire Shab Ke Humsafar,[3] and the highest award of theSahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, theSahitya Akademi Fellowship in 1994.[4] She also received thePadma Bhushan from theGovernment of India in 2005.[5]
She was born on 20 January 1927 inAligarh, Uttar Pradesh (though her family were fromNehtaur, UP). Her fatherSyed Sajjad Haider Yaldram was also a well known Urdu writer in India of travel and humour literature. She was named after a notable Iranian poet Qurrat-ul-AinTáhirih (Tahira). Qurratul Ain, translated literally means 'solace of the eyes' and is used as a term of endearment. A trendsetter in Urdu fiction, she began writing at a time when the novel was yet to take deep roots as a serious genre in the poetry-oriented world of Urdu literature. She instilled in it a new sensibility and brought into its fold strands of thought and imagination hitherto unexplored. She is widely regarded as the "Grande Dame" of Urdu literature.[5]
After finishing her education fromIndraprastha College,Delhi[6] andLucknow University'sIsabella Thoburn College, she moved to Pakistan in 1947, then lived in England for some time before finally returning to India in 1960. She lived in Bombay for nearly twenty years before shifting toNoida near New Delhi, where she had been staying till her demise. She never married.[citation needed]
She migrated along with her family members to Pakistan in 1947 at the time of independence "in the wake of burning trains of corpses going into and out of both countries, as Muslims moved to Pakistan and Hindus to India.".[7] In 1959, the release of her novelAag ka Darya (River of Fire) met with controversy in Pakistan. Soon after publication, she decided to go back to India, where she had since lived.[7] She worked as a journalist to earn her living but regularly kept publishing short stories, literary translations and novels, by now almost thirty in number. She was Managing Editor of the magazineImprint, Bombay (1964–68), and a member of the editorial staff of theIllustrated Weekly of India (1968–75). Her books have been translated into English and other languages.[citation needed]
Hyder also served as a guest lecturer at the universities of California, Chicago, Wisconsin, and Arizona. She was visiting professor at the Urdu Department atAligarh Muslim University, where her father had earlier been a registrar. She was also Professor Emeritus, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Chair at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. In 1979 she was in residency at the University of Iowa'sInternational Writing Program.[citation needed]
A prolific writer (she began to write at the young age of 11), her literary works include some 12 novels and novellas and four collections of short stories. Hyder has also done a significant amount of translation of classics. Her own works have been translated into English and other languages.[8]
Aag Ka Dariya (River of Fire), her magnum opus, is a landmark novel that explores the vast sweep of time and history. It tells a story that moves from the fourth century BC to the post-Independence period in India and Pakistan, pausing at the many crucial epochs of history. Aamer Hussein inThe Times Literary Supplement wrote thatRiver of Fire is to Urdu fiction whatOne Hundred Years of Solitude is to Hispanic literature. In a review for a 2019 reprint byNew Directions Publishing, Aditi Sriram wrote in theNew York Times that the novel "is as relevant in 2019 as it was when she first wrote it in 1959."[9] Kamil Ahsan inThe Nation wrote: "River of Fire tells a completist and syncretistic version of 2,500 years of history in modern-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh—beginning with the Nanda Dynasty on the brink of defeat by the founder of the Mauryan Empire (323 to 185 BCE), and ending in post-Partition despair.”[7]
Her other published works include: Mere Bhi Sanam Khane, 1949; Safina-e-Gham-e-Dil, 1952; Patjhar ki Awaz (The Voice of Autumn), 1965; Raushni ki Raftar (The Speed of Light), 1982; the short novelChaye ke Bagh (Tea Plantations), 1965 (one of four novellas including Dilruba, Sita Haran, Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Na Kijo, exploring gender injustice) ; and the family chronicle Kar-e-Jahan Daraz Hai (The Work of the World Goes On),[citation needed] as well as "Gardish-e-Rang-e-Chaman" ( a voluminous documentary novel on the post-1857 tragedy befalling women of respectable families), "Aakhir-e-Shab kay Hamsafar" (a novel on the Naxalite Movement and Bengal unrest), "Chandni Begum" (a novel on the general social condition of Muslims forty years into Partition).[citation needed]
Her first short story, Bi-Chuhiya (Little Miss Mouse), was published in children's magazine Phool and at the age of nineteen she wrote her first novel " Mayray Bhee Sanam khanay ".[citation needed]
Aamer Hussein inThe Times Literary Supplement wrote that "Qurratulain Hyder is one of India’s most respected literary figures. Many of the techniques which she introduced in the 1950s have been borrowed by later writers whose ambitious reworkings of history have brought Indian literature so much acclaim[10]
She received theJnanpith Award in 1989 for her novel Aakhir-e-Shab ke Hamsafar (Travellers Unto the Night). She received theSahitya Akademi Award, in 1967, Soviet Land Nehru Award, 1969, Ghalib Award, 1985. She wonSahitya Akademi Award for her collection of short storiesPatjhar ki Awaz (The Sound of Falling Leaves) in 1967. The Urdu Academy in Delhi conferred upon her the Bahadur Shah Zafar Award in 2000. She was conferredPadma Shri by the Government of India in 1984, and in 2005 she was conferred thePadma Bhushan the third highest civilian honour awarded by the Government of India, for her contribution to Urdu Literature and education.[5][8]
Qurratulain Hyder died in aNoida hospital, near New Delhi, India on 21 August 2007 after a protracted lung illness.[citation needed] She was buried in theJamia Millia Islamia cemetery, New Delhi.[citation needed]
Her death has been condoled by the President and Prime Minister of India, and Chief Minister of her home stateUttar Pradesh.[11]
"With her unfortunate passing, the country has lost a towering literary figure."
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