On one hand, the title and the subtitle of the book clearly envelope what it holds within but on the other, raises a certain amount of curiosity on the kind of papers it has. What is pertinent is that the very idea of a collection of writings published in honour of a scholar speaks volumes about the personality for whom the said collection has been brought out.
It may sound like a cliché but there is no denying the fact that Professor Harish Narang towers over an entire generation of academics in India and abroad like a colossus in the field of English Literature. Be it pure academia, writing (English and Hindi) or translating, he has left a lasting impact across languages and cultures.
With more than four decades of experience at Jawaharlal Nehru University and a keen interest in postcolonial literatures, African and Canadian literature, Dalit literature and translation studies, he has guided and been an inspiration to a generation of scholars in India and abroad. Hence this handsomely produced Festschrift edited by Professor Madhumita Chakraborty (Delhi University), Professor Anuradha Ghosh (Jamia Millia Islamia) and Professor Mukesh Ranjan (Jamia Millia Islamia) is a timely tribute to Professor Narang. As Professor Kapil Kapoor says in his Foreword, ‘This collection is a living testimony to not only his teaching but also his influence.’
The book is divided into eight sections with each section containing essays pertaining to a particular theme, by a galaxy of academics (35+) whose lives has been influenced by Professor Narang is some way or the other. The essays cover a wide range of subjects that have been close to Professor Narang’s heart including literature, culture, and translation.
In ‘Progressive Aesthetics and the Discourse of Modernity: A Close Reading of Premchand’s “Kafan” and “Thakur ka Kuan”’, under the section ‘On reading Bhasha Literatures’, Asmat Jahan explores how Premchand’s sensibilities overlapped with those of the Progressives ‘through a conscious departure from excessive sentimentalism’ and marking a ‘shift from Romanticism to Realism’.
We know how Premchand in his landmark address, titled ‘Sahitya ka Uddeshya’ (The Aim of Literature) at the first conference of the Progressive Writers’ Association in 1936, argued that true literature cannot be isolated from the social realities and that continues to resonate till today.
In ‘Politics and African Literature: A Narrative of Struggle, Identity and Change’ under the section ‘Black Sensibilities in Literature’, Mukesh Ranjan looks at ‘the emergence of postcolonial voices, literature as an instrument of social commentary, feminist perspectives in gender and politics, literature in contemporary African politics and the global impact of African literature’ through the works of renowned African writers like Chinua Achebe, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and Wole Soyinka.
It’s no secret that Professor Narang is an unabashed admirer of Manto. Under the section ‘On the Writings of Harish Narang…’, Asim Siddiqui analyses the appreciation of Manto by three distinct personalities in the chapter, ‘To Manto with Love from Harish Narang, Nandita Das and Ketan Mehta’. With a close study of Manto’s interpretation by the three auteurs in their respective fields (Professor Narang and his interlingual translations, Nandita Das and her coffee table book, Manto and I, brought out by Aleph in 2020 on the making of the film, and Ketan Mehta who too had adapted ‘Toba Tek Singh’ into a short film), Siddiqui looks at how the lens varies between the three.
In another essay in this section, Anuradha Ghosh fondly recalls Professor Narang’s influence during her time at JNU and what it meant to be a JNUite: ‘…its operative language was multidimensional, diverse and plural, making the university a platform for free play of ideas that coexisted through a celebration of difference’. Can we say the same about it today? In another section, she goes on to compare Narang’s translation of Manto’s ‘Boo’ to that of two other renowned translators—Muhammad Umar Menon and Mohammed Asaduddin, and highlights how it has an ‘added dimension to it’. A good translation, she asserts, has to be ‘adapted to the politics of the time’.
In the section titled ‘Reflections’, Narang lays forth his case for not holding Rushdie’s writing in high esteem under the essay, ‘Creative Writing is an Ethical Question’. He argues that ‘sheer jugglery of words does not make a great book’. Whether you are a fan of Rushdie or not, this essay makes for a compelling read.
All in all, this is a fine compendium to be added to one’s bookshelf and kudos to the three editors for doing the great job of putting it together.
Towards the end of the book, Nandini Sen has interviewed Narang who claims Manto to be a great humanist and says, ‘There are not many in India who are as steadfast in their humanist approach to culture and to literature as him.’
Well, one can say the same of Professor Narang as well.
Saba Mahmood Bashir is Assistant Professor, Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.[/ihc-hide-content]