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The 'death' of criticism By Hasan Abidi "Story writers have done their job better than poets," the late Mulk Raj Anand was reported to have once said. Author of several volumes of short stories and novels, he was probably the first English-language writer from South Asia to depict the plight of the marginalized people of the subcontinent. But is it due to the popularity of this art form - fiction - that poets have turned towards writing stories and biographies and are seen to express themselves better in prose than they could through poetry? Or is it because of the limitations of form poetry imposes that many writers feel that they can find prose a better medium ? The 20th century was a most dynamic and eventful but also a most calamitous century. These elements persist in the 21st century, and the human condition continues to present problems and dilemmas. A creative person may not be content with a single art form to express his or her emotions and might want to do so through various forms of expression such as painting, writing for the stage, or even acting. Composing poetry, as a friend observes, is like miniature painting while fiction is a wall painting which can accommodate a wider canvas. Criticism as an integral part of creative writing has also suffered a decline. But an Urdu writer based in London has for many decades been talking about "the death of criticism" which is also the title of his collection of critical essays. Referring to Urdu writers with disdain, Qaisar Tamkeen informs his readers that by "writers" he means writers in English. In Urdu, he says, criticism is a genre "which simply never existed". The question then would be how he defines his own critical writings. These random thoughts are due to a discussion on literature at two separate meetings last week, one sponsored by the Adabi Mehfil and the other by Idara Adbiyat-i-Pakistan, held to celebrate the great critic Majnoon Gorakhpuri's birth anniversary. Ahmad Maqsood Hameedi in Mehfil defended the role of critics by citing Firaq and Mohammad Hasan Askari and 'Andazay', the former's collection of critical writings that provided guidelines to present-day writers. No creative writing can be produced without some sensibility of criticism on the part of the writer who in most cases should be his or her own best critic. Urdu poets in different periods had set standards of quality as can be seen in the works of Mir, Ghalib and Aatish, whose couplets Hameedi quoted. Sarwar Javed, a poet-critic, discussed the prevailing state of Urdu literature and saw it as bleak and discouraging. He said the sale of quality books was on the decline and readers were drifting away from Urdu writings. To some extent, this may be true, another writer commented, but the decline in the demand for books had many other reasons as well. Literature was a mirror of life and society, and there was a general fall in social and educational standards. While the population was increasing, the literacy rate had dwindled. Also, every literate person was not expected to have a taste for literature. There was a time when a literate person did not have many options except to engage himself in reading or adopting an artistic pursuit. Now science and technology had expanded the area of study, and information technology had caught the imagination of many. Most people enjoyed programmes on TV channels and considered this to be intellectual stimulation enough. Thus, they avoided serious reading. A senior writer and researcher felt that the rising number of Urdu columnists might be another cause of the serious decline in reading. The "column-nigar" begins to behave like a litterateur and his writings in the pages of newspapers and their so-called "literary sections" creates the illusion for readers that what they are reading is literature. Poet Ahmed Faraz defended young writers, saying they were neglected during the past two decades. "What have we done for better understanding and education of our children and youngsters?" he said. Mr Yusuf Jamal, who was the host at the sitting where Faraz spoke, seemed to be plugging away at the theme or creative writing and its decline: he raised the same point at another sitting a couple of days later also. Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)
