KARACHI: An Urdu book of literary criticism and research titled Nuskhaha-i-Fikr by Dr Nuzhat Abbasi was launched at the Arts Council on Thursday evening.

Salman Siddiqui, who anchored the programme, complained to the media personnel for not giving enough coverage to those who anchor literary events. He then briefly talked about the book. He said it had 40 essays, seven of which were works of criticism and 33 on literary personalities.

Poet Shaista Mufti, before reading her paper on the book, informed the audience that she was the one who made the cover design for the book and was asked by Dr Abbasi that she needed the sky, trees, birds, mountains and flowers in the image — which Mufti did. She said while the trees and mountains signified that Dr Abbasi was rooted in her culture, the birds symbolise the flight of her imagination.

Prof Dr Shakil Ahmed Khan said Dr Abbasi had a serious disposition. Such people keep to themselves while creating [art] and in the process society benefits from their work. He has known her from the time when they set up an organisation of research scholars of which he was president and she vice-president. Dr Abbasi is a poet who, prior to the publishing of the book that was being launched, has published two collections of poems and her PhD thesis. Most of the essays included in the book have already been published in different magazines. Since she is a poet, a majority of the personalities that she has chosen to write about are poets, such as Faiz, Fani, Josh, Pirzada Qasim and Rasa Chughtai. She’s also written about women writers and about the celebrated author Quratulain Hyder’s novels and short stories. However, he pointed out, her criticism lacked depth. It was mostly composed of impressions (ta’asurati tanqeed) but has worked hard on it.

Poet Ambreen Haseeb Amber said in the age we live in, only one’s [hard] work can get one recognised. Prose books published in 2018 outnumbered poetry books. So if the number of poets started to dwindle, we would have to blame ourselves for it. She argued that most of those who are writing criticism try and flaunt their knowledge. This is not the case with Dr Abbasi. Whatever she’s penned is either a result of the urge from within herself to write on that subject or by complying with someone’s request. Dr Abbasi is a proponent of “literature for life”. The good thing is that she doesn’t try to impose her ideas on others. She’s a taciturn person and that’s what comes through in her writings as well. She writes short but meaningful sentences.

Ms Amber particularly mentioned a piece included in the book on the women novelists that emerged under the influence of Sir Syed’s movement. After that, she took issue with Dr Abbasi’s views on Parveen Shakir’s poetry — that the late Shakir’s earlier work commensurate with her age. She raised the question why such notions are discussed in relation to women alone and not men. She claimed the best essay in the book was one on science’s relation with the world of literature.

Dr Rukhsana Saba, Dr Auj-i-Kamal, Prof Haroon Rasheed, Zafar Mohammad Khan Zafar and Prof Sahar Ansari (who presided over the event) were also included in the list of speakers. Dr Pirzada Qasim, who was the chief guest on the occasion, couldn’t make it to the launch because he wasn’t feeling well. Ms Amber said that Dr Qasim in his message had praised Dr Abbasi’s book.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2019