Trending in literary evaluation
Syed Afsar Sajid
1. ‘Meelanaat’ (‘Mazameen’) by Dr. Shahid Ashraf
2. ‘Rash’hat-e-Tafakhur’ by Dr. Haroon Rashid Tabassum
3. ‘Bazm-e-Kutub’ by Dr. Haroon Rashid Tabassum
4. ‘Danish-e-Kutub’ by Dr. Haroon Rashid Tabassum
Noted educationist, poet and critic Dr. Shahid Ashraf has lately published an anthology
of his critical essays titled ‘Meelanaat’ focused on some abstract literary issues besides
The anthology, titled ‘Meelanaat’, offers a critical study of the persona and artistic expression of several distinguished contemporary Urdu poets.
Similarly famous litterateur and social crusader Dr. Haroon Rashid Tabassum has come
out with three books in succession, early this year, viz. ‘Rash’hat-e-Tafakhur’, ‘Bazm-e-
Kutub’ and ‘Danish-e-Kutub’ related to evaluation of a good number of authors and their
books on miscellaneous literary topics.
‘Meelanaat’
It is a collection of Dr. Shahid Ashraf’s seventeen (17) expository essays on some vital
literary issues connected to the aesthetic as well as utilitarian aspects of literature. In the
In the opening essay of the book, he traces the prevailing trends in modern Urdu poetry. Lack of resistance, effacement of the left-right divide in literary creativity, rise of feminism as a gender-oriented movement in contemporary Urdu poetry, growing popularity of comic
Last but not least, the rise in popularity of religious poetry such as Na’atia poetry is a noteworthy development.
Other important issues highlighted in these essays are modern Urdu ‘nazm’ versus
colonialism, quest for a representative litterateur of 21st-century Urdu literature, ‘tanhai’
and ‘junoon’ as ruling passions in poetry, the concept of ‘sublime,’ Majeed Amjad’s
tirade against capitalism, Saghar Siddiqui’s ghazal, John Elia’s poetic peculiarity, Saadat
Saeed’s social consciousness, Ghulam Hussain Sajid’s spiritual elation, the poetic
wherewithal of Dr. Jawaz Jafri’s epic poem ‘Kahani Ek Shaher Ki’, an appraisal of poet
Akhtar Shumar’s ‘Kulliyat’, an overview of Naveed Sadiq’s ‘Irtikaz’, and Dr. Kabeer Athar
as a poetic messiah. The perspicacity of the author’s style coupled with his non-partisan
stance as evident in these essays, tends to enhance their credibility and literary worth.
‘Rash’hat-e-Tafakhur’
Prof. Tafakhur Mahmood Gondal is a well-known poet, prose writer, orator, and literary
journalist. Dr. Tabassum has highlighted his scholastic and literary achievements in this
book. It contains a lengthy but revealing interview of Prof. Tafakhur by Dr. Tabassum, in
In addition, Dr. Tabassum provides concise yet thorough reviews of his twelve publications covering a wide range of topics.
‘Bazm-e-Kutub’
Dr. Haroon Rashid Tabassum is an avid bibliophile; he does not simply browse, retain or
store books but also reads, appraises, reviews, and anthologizes them. This book is a
compendium of such reviews of some eighteen publications including Shaukat
Siddiqui’s ‘Khuda Ki Basti’, Mirza Muhammad Akram’s ‘Millat-e-Islamia Kay Manfi Kirdar’,
Muhammad Yaqub Firdausi’s ‘Kun Fayakun’, Rana Muhammad Shahid’s ‘Shahab-e-Fikr’,
Akram Kunjahi’s ‘Mu’asir Hamdo Na’at’ and ‘Aks-e-Rukh-e-Baatin’, Dr. Badar Munir’s
‘Armaghan-e-Mu’addat’, Prof. Raja Muzaffar Hassan Mansoor’s ‘Ek Daur-e-Muhabbat
Beet Gaya’, Muhammad Zaigham Mughera’s ‘Shifa’at’, Shafiq Asif’s ‘RatjagoN Ki
Chandni’, Shabbir Naqid’s ‘Shahida Latif Ka Takhliqi Irtiqa’, Nasrullah Khan Adam’s
‘Muzaahamati NazmaiN’, and Dr. Inamul Haq Javed’s ‘Kulliyat’ et al.
‘Danish-e-Kutub’
This is another beneficial anthology comprising reviews of books like ‘Qalam Kaashtah!’
by Dr. Anwaar Ahmad Bagwi, ‘Maut Say Wapasi’ by Shorish Kashmiri, ‘Mas’ala-e-
Qadiyaniyat’ by Jamil Athar Qazi, ‘Saya Shajar Ka’ by Nasim Shahana SeemeeN,
‘Learning Principles’ by Air Commodore Amjad Amin Khan, ‘Hayat-o-Afkaar-e-Iqbal’ by
Tariq Mahmood Mirza, ‘Afghanistan Mein Iqbal Shanasi Ki Rewayat’ by Abdur Rauf Khan
Rafiqi, ‘Dar-e-ImkaN Pay Dastak’ by Yusuf Khalid, ‘Sinf-e-Girifta’ and ‘Qalb-e-Muztar’ by
Misbah Khalid, and ‘Tajahil-e-Aadilana’ by Abid Hussain Qureshi besides eulogistic
profiles of three distinguished female writers and academics namely Prof. Dr. Abida
Batool, Syeda Moazzama Batool, and Ms. Tasneem Kausar.
