Ralph Russell
Ralph Russell | |
---|---|
Urdu: رالف رَسَل | |
Born | 21 May 1918 |
Died | 14 September 2008 |
Education | St John's College, Cambridge |
Known for | British scholar of Urdu literature. Communist activist |
Political party | Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) |
Awards | Sitara-i-Imtiaz |
Professor Ralph Russell SI (Urdu: رالف رَسَل) (21 May 1918 – 14 September 2008) was a British scholar of Urdu literature and a Communist. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge. He taught Urdu and Urdu literature at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and also in universities in India and Pakistan. He wrote articles and essays in Urdu and English, and attended literary seminars and workshops on the subject of his specialization.[1]
Russell was born in Hammerton, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, and grew up in Loughton, Essex. For much of his life he was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. He was awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz in recognition of his services to Urdu language and literature by the Government of Pakistan. Loughton Town Council installed a blue plaque to Russell on his boyhood home at 6 Queen's Road in that town, which was inaugurated with a reception given by the present owners for family, friends and colleagues, on 15 July 2013.
Books[]
- Three Mughal Poets, 1968[2]
- Ghalib, life and letters, 1969
- New course in Urdu and spoken Hindi for learners in Britain, 1997
- The pursuit of Urdu literature 1992
- Selections from the Persian Ghazals of Ghalib with Translations 1997
- An Anthology of Urdu Literature 1999
- How not to write the history of Urdu literature 1999
- The Famous Ghalib 2000
- The Oxford India Ghalib: Life, Letters and Ghazals 2003
- The Seeing Eye: Selection from the Urdu and Persian Ghazals of Ghalib 2003
- Urdu in Britain (Ed), 1982
- Ghalib: The Poet and his Age (Ed) 1997
- A Thousand Yearnings: a Book of Urdu Poetry and Prose (Trans) 2017[3]
Autobiography
- Findings, keeping: Life, Communism and everything 2001
- Losses, Gains published by Three Essays, New Delhi, 2010
In Urdu
- Urdu Adab ki Justuju (Urdu translation of The Pursuit of Urdu Literature/Curiosity about Urdu literature), by Muhammad Sarwar Rija (2003)
- Juyinda Yabinda (Urdu translation of his autobiography, by Arjumand Ara), City Press, Karachi, 2005[4]
See also[]
- David Matthews Urdu Professor
References[]
External links[]
- 1918 births
- 2008 deaths
- Academics of SOAS University of London
- Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
- Urdu-language writers
- Linguists from the United Kingdom
- Linguists of Urdu
- British critics
- Urdu critics
- Recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz
- Communist Party of Great Britain members
- People from the Borough of Harrogate
- People from Loughton
- 20th-century linguists