In the mirror of Ghalib

Abstract

This article focuses on studies of the preeminent Urdu and Persian poet Mirza Asadullah Khan ‘Ghalib’ written for the occasion of his death centennial in 1969 by three Pakistani Urdu writers: Mumtaz Husain, Salim Ahmad and N.M. Rashed. These studies also participate in a debate on Pakistani national culture at a moment when the Urdu literary community was increasingly divided, following the 1965 India–Pakistan war and the emergence of a ‘new generation’ of writers on either side of the border. Each author uses Ghalib to articulate a different model of the individual and his relationship to society and tradition, taking up a theme of Indo-Muslim selfhood that has typically been the site of intersection between literary and cultural politics. Through an examination of these works, this article highlights the role played by discussions of Indo-Muslim selfhood in cultural and literary debates in Urdu.