By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter
Naiyar Masud, the famous short story writer and Urdu scholar passed away today at the age of 81 years. A resident of Lucknow, Masud retired from the academic post of Professor of Persian at Lucknow University.
All his life, Masud was actively engaged in writing short stories in Urdu and translating major of the world literature in Urdu. He was popularly known for translating works of Franz Kafka, the great German novelist of 18th and 19th centuries.
Masud’s short stories were published as collections as Ganjifa, Simiya, Itr-e-kaafoor, and Taoos Chaman Ki Myna. He was awarded Urdu Language Sahitya Akademi award for Taoos Chaman Ki Myna in 2001, and Saraswati Samman in 2007.
Taoos Chaman Ki Myan is one of those works of Masud which various drama companies had dramatised in past. Often set up in a middle-class milieu, Masud’s stories gesture towards metaphysical truths. Most of his works were translated into English by Muhammad Umar Memon, professor of Urdu literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Memon said in an interview once, “His simple prose is extremely deceptive. It appears unlaboured and fluent but hides a meticulous craft. Not a word is slipped in without deliberation and protracted thought. A jigsaw puzzle put together with relentless care and ardour.” R Sivapriya, Executive Editor of Juggernaut Books and Vivek Shanbag, novelist counted Masud as one of the most underrated Indian writers after independence.
Sivapriya told The Hindu in 2016, “He’s written a little under 40 stories and has a minuscule but fierce following. He should be read more, written about more and celebrated while he is still alive.”
Masud had sensed the decline of language in Uttar Pradesh, therefore he said in an interview, “I see a very bleak future ahead for Urdu as I sense a deep political indifference for the language in UP.”