Here is before me a newly published book by a writer who is more popular now than he was during his lifetime. Of course serious readers of literature were well aware of his worth as a literary critic, but as he had not cared to collect and compile his critical writings and bring them out in a book form, so the real worth of his work in literary criticism remained a bit obscure.

But soon after his death Sang-e-Meel published a collection of his writings under the title Majmooa Suhail Ahmad Khan. It includes a study of Urdu dastans with particular reference to myths and symbols. This was welcomed in literary circles as profound research on Urdu dastans from a modern point of view.

It was also the first time that Urdu readers became aware of a symbolic dimension emerging from the narratives of these dastans.

Thanks to the publication of this book the late Suhail Ahmad Khan became well recognised among readers as a literary critic.

And now a new volume of his articles hitherto untraced, titled Mazamin-au-Makalmat-i-Doctor Suhail Ahmed Khan has come out.

It has been compiled by Ishtiaq Ahmed who informs us that yet another such volume is in the pipeline. Kitab Serai (Urdu Bazaar, Lahore) has undertaken the publication of these two volumes.

In an article included in the newly published book Suhail has pointed out a positive quality he discovered in the writings of Mohammad Hasan Askari. Askari Sahib has discussed a great range of subjects from surrealism and existentialism to film and photography, but his expression is never unintelligible.

Even while discussing thoughts and ideas laden with philosophical intricacies he explains them with great facility. Among his contemporary critics and scholars he stands distinguished for his clarity of thought and facility of expression. While appreciating this quality in the works of M.H. Askari, Suhail himself has developed this rare quality in his own writing. We see so many of our scholars who become unintelligible when they discuss modern theories such as structuralism and post-modernism.

Suhail, however, always manages to explain concepts and theories with ease, no matter how complicated the subject may be. His article on symbolism that was mentioned earlier may be cited as an example of this.

In an attempt to explain the topic in an intelligible way he shuns the common practice of citing examples from western literature. Instead, he chooses to elucidate it in the perspective of our own environment and our own literary tradition. This helps him explain a seemingly complicated topic in a convincing way.

Symbolism is among the few subjects which have attracted Suhail’s particular attention. The recurrence of this theme in different articles written by him testifies to this fact.

In the article ‘Bunyadi Alamatain’ (basic symbols) he has discussed the theme in the light of what the French scholar Rene Guenon has written on the subject.

The esteemed scholar is of the view that the science of symbols has been a part of ancient tradition. Folk tales in particular speak of this age-old wisdom. They carry with them something mysterious which is related to this science. He further says that it is wrong to attribute symbols to the individual or collective unconscious alone. In his opinion the science of symbols is related to the super-conscious.

Other than the articles included in this volume Suhail has to his credit a scholarly article titled ‘The Traditional Concept of Symbols’ in which he has exhaustively discussed the mystery of ancient symbols.

But his deep involvement in the mystery of ancient symbols should not be taken to mean that he had grown oblivious to what was happening in the literary scene in his own time.

The fact that he devoted a number of articles to the study of new trends with particular reference to the writers who represent these trends is testimony to his equal involvement with contemporary literature.

His short studies of modern poetry ranging from Faiz to Ghulam Husain Sajid speak of his awareness of the changing trends and attitudes in Urdu poetry.