Yadgar-e-Ghalib

Yadgar-e-Ghalib

Author	Altaf Hussain Hali
Original title	يادگار غالب
Country	British India
Language	Urdu
Subject	Ghalib
OCLC	21969593

Yadgar-e-Ghalib (English: In Memory of Ghalib), also spelled Yadgare Ghalib or Yadgar-i-Ghalib, is an 1897 biography of Urdu poet Ghalib, written by his disciple and writer/poet Altaf Hussain Hali (1837–1914). It is considered to be the first authentic work on Ghalib's life, personality, poetry and prose.

Background

Hali was a disciple of Ghalib. He was deeply affected by Ghalib's death in 1869, writing a sensitive elegy on Ghalib. Friends pressed him to compile a biography of Ghalib. However his preoccupation with other works prevented him from undertaking this work early and the biography ultimately published in 1897.

Contents

In the first part of the book, covering about a hundred pages, Hali has given whatever he could gather as regards the life of Ghalib. In the second part of the book, Hali has evaluated Ghalib as an author, as a poet of Urdu and Persian and as a prose writer.

Hali's general approach to Ghalib's poetry and personality borders on defence, glossing over the poet's personal shortcomings and providing relief by a perceptive analysis and interpretation of his poems.

Reception

Universally regarded as a classic, Yadgar-e-Ghalib is considered to be the first authentic work on Ghalib's life, personality, poetry and prose.

References

Sources

• George, K. M., ed. (1997). Masterpieces of Indian Literature. Vol. 3. New Delhi: National Book Trust. p. 2084. ISBN 978-81-237-1978-8.
• Ram, Malik (1997) [1982]. Hali. Makers of Indian Literature (reprinted ed.). New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. pp. 34–35. ISBN 81-260-0324-3.

External links

• Yadgar-e-Ghalib at Columbia University (Urdu)
• Yadgar-e-Ghalib at Google Books (English translation)