Bøker av Ashar Najmi

Ashar Najmi writes postmodern Urdu fiction. He has received acclaim for his three novels which cover different, albeit controversial, themes. This book presents Ashar Najmi's first collection of short stories. The stories in this collection break new ground in Urdu fiction as they feature no archetypal characters or models. Ashar's narratives diverge from conventional genres. The narrative style of many stories has changed, showing the diversity of trends in world literature. Urdu fiction has also undergone experiments in recent years which readers have praised.

The book series 'Esbaat' has been published throughout the Urdu-speaking world, originating from Mumbai, India, for the past fifteen years. This edition contains a comprehensive special section focused on Milan Kundera, as well as 'Artificial Intelligence' and other subjects. The impact of artificial intelligence on creativity, the arts, and various other facets of everyday life has been meticulously curated by a team of intellectuals.

This is a collection of essays and reviews by renowned Urdu novelist, editor and translator Ashar Najmi. Since he is not a professional critic but a creator, his essays are different from the mainstream critical essays and his approach is also different. His articles and comments included in this book do not use the old concepts and obsolete language of Urdu criticism, but instead feel a freshness.

Most of the universities in India and Pakistan are in the business of selling degrees which only produces a batch of unemployed youth. Universities form the center of the knowledge economy and the research done in our universities either becomes a part of the records in the corners of the libraries or becomes a termite attack on this useless pile of papers. The disease of distance from reading and writing has become ingrained in our roots, the aversion to knowledge and taking the path of escape starts from school, which becomes a part of the student caste when he is a boy in college and then goes to universities. University teachers who Research they do only for their promotion, students do research only to complete their degree. Obviously, when the goal of learning is non-academic, only replicant scholars will be produced whose goal is to obtain a degree, job, and promotion rather than knowledge.But wait, is this problem limited only to educational institutions? Have you ever wondered what the 'source' of this plagiarism trend is? Have you ever thought that this infection of plagiarism is a product of modern times or a legacy of the elders that has been passed down from generation to generation? When you come to these questions, you will know that the plant which our elders planted and cultivated years ago, has now become a tree. We have become so desensitized that we have even weaponized various literary terms to defend the plagiarism of elders. Paraphrasing, translation, adaptation, 'istifada', etc. are the weapons with which the thief is crowned. What is the relationship between forgery and plagiarism? And what is the reason that a style writer cannot plagiarize others? That is why I said above that as long as we continue to confuse the 'accomplishments' of our writers and scholars and their 'mistakes', we will continue to provide justification for plagiarism to the plagiarists of our time, why? That two standards cannot be established for condemning plagiarism, one for seniors and celebrities and the other for beginners. Of course, you can't correct the 'crooked foundation' of this ancient building, but at least don't make your hypocrisy and indifference so public by giving lame cute explanations to prove it to be 'straight' that our future generations will be intellectually betrayed and forget to even distinguish between literary integrity.

On JCB Prize winner Khalid Jawed, we did not intend to create a formal special issue in which most critics of Urdu show their hypocrisy, but in this issue of 'Esbaat', we presented the opinions of critics and writers of other languages on Khalid Jawed and his fiction. Although the major part of these 'opinions' consists of 'Namatkhana' and its English translation 'The Paradise of Food', but Khalid's other novels such as 'Maut Ki Kitab' and 'Ek Khanjar Pani Mein' are also published in Hindi and English. The translations of those articles have also been included with the idea to make it clear to the Urdu readers that the magic of Khalid's fiction is not only spread in Urdu but also in Hindi and English languages and interestingly, it's before receiving the prize. Apart from this, what was the opinion of the jury of 'JCB Prize' about 'The Paradise of Food' (Namatkhana), we are also sharing with Urdu people, as well as some of the most important interviews of Khalid Jawed and his translator Baran Farooqui are included. In the English articles included in this issue, the passages of the novel have not been translated on purpose, the purpose is only that the readers can also enjoy the translation i.e. 'The Paradise of Food'.All the essayists and reviewers included in this issue are important Hindi and English writers and journalists. Apart from these, translations of the articles of two English scholars, Faizan Muqim and Mohammad Affan, are also being included. Read these articles in particular and think how much wider and broader the canvas of thought of the young people is writing on Urdu literature in English than the professional critics of Urdu.This informal corner was necessary because it is a point of pride for us Urdu people that Khalid Jawed, till yesterday the representative fiction writer of Urdu, is now performing the duty of Urdu's ambassador in contemporary Indian literature.

"Shabkhun', 'Sugaat', 'Aaj', 'Duniyazad', 'Awraaq', 'Aaj Kal' and 'Zhan-e-Jadid'; each of these magazines had its own special atmosphere or individuality. All of them have been closed except 'Aaj' and 'Aaj Kal' is never going to be closed. It is difficult to say about Ashar Najmi whether he is a great novelist or an editor, but in any case, an editor cannot be replaced by a novelist.'.Therefore, it is not difficult to infer that journalism (whether it is literary journalism or not) is of no use without creative passion. political, social, any subject is worthless without creative language. Therefore, the editorials written by Ashar Najmi are the perfection of the same pen that wrote 'Uss Ne Kaha Tha'. I am rationalizing my wonder and trying to fit this magic pen into the mold of rationality. " (KHALID JAWED, JCB PRIZE WINNER 2022)

The selection of short stories consists of two volumes, this being the first volume. These stories are based on a selection of 37 issues published in the last fifteen years of the quarterly 'Esbaat'. All these stories remained unpublished in India till their publication in the respective issue of Esbaat. Therefore, with reference to these stories, one can analyze the characteristics of the 21st century fiction in Urdu and its distinctions.

Quarterly 'ESBAAT' is a literary magazine published from Mumbai for the last fifteen years. The first volume contains a selection of the articles that appeared in each of its issues during those fifteen years. Ashar Najmi is Chief Editor of ESBAAT.

The selection of short stories consists of two volumes, this being the second volume. These stories are based on a selection of 37 issues published in the last fifteen years of the quarterly 'Esbaat'. All these stories remained unpublished in India till their publication in the respective issue of Esbaat. Therefore, with reference to these stories, one can analyze the characteristics of the 21st century fiction in Urdu and its distinctions.