CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF ZULFIQAR GHOSE’S POETRY

BY

BYMADIHA HABIB

National University of Modern Languages

BIOGRAPHY The expatriate Zulfiqar Ghose , originally Khwaja

Zulfiqar Ahmed the Novelist, Poet, Story Writer, Autobiographer,

Journalist, Educationalist, Essayist and Literary Critic

born on 13 March 1935 at Sialkot (a city in East Punjab which later on became West Pakistan after the partition of Subcontinent in 1947).

His father Khwaja Mohammad Ghose moved his extended Muslim family to the bustling city of Bombay after World War 2 in 1942 for business opportunities.

Ghose was deeply affected by communal tension and the horrific Partition riots.

in1952 moved to Londoneducated at Sloane School, London, at Keele University he received his BA

in English and Philosophy in London he worked as a cricket and

hockey reporter for The Observerwrote book reviews for the TLS and The

Spectator contributed to the Arts page of The

Western Daily Press in Bristol worked as a school teacherGot married to the Brazilian artist

Helena de la Fontaine.

Literary Works

Novels The Murder of Aziz Khan (1967) A New History of Torments (1982) Crump Term’s (1975) The Incredible Brazilian: The

Native (1972) The Incredible Brazilian: The

Beautiful Empire (1975) The Incredible Brazilian: A

Different World (1978) The Triple Mirror of Self (1992)

Autobiograhies

“Redbrick Ritual” “School Days in Bombay”

Confessions of Native Alien (1965)

Poetic CollectionsThe Loss of India (1964) Jets From Orange (1967)The Violent West (1972) A Memory of Asia (1984)

Short Story Collections Statement against Corpses (1964) Veronica and the Gongora Passion:

Stories, Fictions, Tales, and One Fable (1998)

Critical Volumes Hamlet, Prufrock, and Language (1978), The Fiction of Reality (1984) The Art of Creating Fiction (1991) Shakespeare's Mortal Knowledge (1993)

Ghose’s Prominent Themes profound sense of alienation

and homelessness.how politics and historical

events damaged individual’s life.

persons who are searching for identity, home and belonging,

people affected by colonialism and post-colonialism.

Ghose’s StyleGhose’s style is diverse and

varied ,use stream of consciousness technique to capture the feelings of

his alienated protagonist Often experimental in form, Ghose's

works are infused with realism, magic realism, metaphor,

symbolism, and allegory to create a metaphysical reality. He frequently employs mimetic strategies within

his writing to force the reader to re-examine the purpose of the text.

Use simple language to convey his message.

Critical Reception Many reviewers praise Ghose's careful

construction and attention to technique. Commentators praise Ghose's manipulation

of technique to achieve his effects. Some commentators find that Ghose's

experimental style detracts from the story and frustrates the reader, while others applaud these techniques because they engage the reader to become active in the search for reality in the text.

Some critics believe that Ghose's writing is at its best when he relaxes his form, and when he writes from a more personal point of view

Audience ReceptionRizwan Akhtar a PhD fellow at the University of Essex, UK has written about Zulfiqar Ghose in his column “Always Alien” in The News “Zulfiqar Ghose is the only writer from the sub-continent whose work is a conscientious depiction of different cultures, but, in the literary sense, he has never shown any concern to claim his roots and the place of his origin.” The anonymous reviewer of The Times Literary Supplement said about Ghose “when Ghose describes the formidable problems that he has had to face in finding a realistic identity, he is at once touching and interesting”. Waqas Ahmed Khwaja views about Ghose: “Whether he is writing fiction, novels, poetry, stories or autobiographies, Ghose is regarded as a writer who is constantly experimenting with language and form”

DECOMPOSITION

Major ThemesMarginalization and social

responsibility

Concern for other human beings

GEOGRAPHY LESSONS

Themes Preservation of Nature

Hostility of Mankind

THIS LANDSCAPE, THESE PEOPLE

Themes Identity crisis

Nostalgia