Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Prof. Namvar Sing




Kuvempu Rashtreeya  Puraskar ( 2014) will be awarded to noted Hindi writer   Prof. Namvar Singh. The Award carries an amount of Rs.5,00,000 ( Five Lakh) and a citation. The award will be given to him on December 29th at poet Kuvempu’s birthplace by the Chief Minister of Karnataka Shri Siddaramaiah. In the previous year ( 2013) the award was confirmed to Dr. Sachidanandan, noted poet of from Kerala.


Kuppali Venkata Puttappa ( 1904 --1994), popularly known as kuvempu major poet of 20th century, was a prolific writer. His works include 27 collection of poems,10 Literary Essays,12 Plays,3 collection of short stories,4 Translations,2 Biographies, 2 Novels of greater magnitude,1 Autobiography,1 Epic, 3 khandakaavyas,etc. He has received  the prestigious Jnanapitha Award for his epic Shree Ramayana Darshanam, and also received Padmavibhushan from Government of India .

This National Award was instituted during 2013. ‘ The committee headed by noted critic Dr CN Ramachandran ( others are Shri Agrahara Krishnamurthy, former secretary, Central Sahitya academy and Dr. Purushottama Bilimale, scholar and critic) has unanimously selected Dr Namvar Singh for the 2014 Award for his excellent contributions to Hindi literary criticism’ said the president of Kuvempu Pratishthana Prof. Hampa Nagarajaiah.   

Dr. Namvar Singh:

Dr. Namwar Singh (Born 1927) is a distinguished author and critic in Hindi. Born in a peasant family at Jiwanpur (Dist. Varanasi), Dr. Namwar Singh was educated at the Banaras Hindu University, obtaining the degree of Ph. D. in Hindi Literature in 1953. He then taught at Banaras and Sagar Universities. Latter he worked as a professor and Head of the Hindi Department, Jodhpur University and Jawaharlal  Nehru University, New Delhi. He has been appointed Vice Chancellor of the Wardha-based Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University in Gujarat. During his tenure as the vice Chancellor, Dr Singh tried to improve the teaching standards of the University and impart a new direction to its activities to maintain its uniqueness.

Dr. Namwar Singh wrote poetry during his student days. Soon he joined the Progressive Writers movement. He published his first book of essays, Bakalam Khud, in 1951. Later he turned to literary criticism, and has published a number of works. He also edits the Hindi quarterly Alochana. His Kavita ke Naye Pratiman, is a com­prehensive study of the New Poetry movement in Hindi emphasizing the necessity for a new criteria to evaluate poetry. For its clarity of vision and analytic acumen, the work has been hailed as an outstanding contribution to contemporary Hindi literature. Prof. Namvar Singh has received Sahitya akademi   award for this   book    
             
The new criteria springing up in the Hindi poetry after the Chhayavad have been marked by Namvar Singh. The criteria are those of realistic poetry: for example, poetic diction, ‘plainness of statement’, dramatic poetic structure, absurdity and irony, complexity and tension of experience, and honesty. These are related to both the form and content of poetry. The criteria concerning poetic diction, 'plainness of statement', and structure are related to the form while the other criteria are related to the content of poetry. What characterizes Singh's approach is that he analyses neither of the two sets of criteria as independent in itself. He analyses the formal criteria in relation to the content and vice-versa.  

Not only is Namvar Singh,the most important literary critic in Hindi today, but he also  perhaps with Nirmal Verma, the most articulate and influential of all living Hindi writers, whether critical  or creative. Over the last decade or so he has acquired a pan Indian reputation as one of the tallest literery and cultural critics writing in any Indian language. He was one of the first critics in the country – as distinct from the poets, novelists, and dramatists to win a Sahitya Akademy award ( 1971) and the invitation to him to deliver the keynote address Sahitya Akademi festival of letters in 1991 was again the kind of honor usually accorded only to the most eminent for our creative writers.
 His s well-known works are-

1.      Doosri Parampara Ki Khoj ( 2008)
2.      Bakalam Khud ( Poetry, 1051)
3.      Chhayavad ( Criticism, 2007)
4.      Kavita Ke Naye Pratimaan ( Criticism 2004)
5.      Aalochak Ke Mukh Se ( Criticism, 2005)
6.      Itihas Aur Aalochana ( Criticism,  2009)
7.      Wad Vivad Samwad ( Novel 2007)
8.      Hindi Ke Vikas Main Apbhransh Ka Yog ( Criticism 2006)
9.      Aadhunik Sahitya Ki Pravartiyan ( Criticism, 2008)
10.  Karl Marx: Kalaa Aur Sahitya Chintan ( Criticism, 2010)
11.  Prithveeraj Raso : Bhasha Aur Sahitya ( Short stories, 2007)
12.  Aalochana Aur Vichardhara ( Criticism,  2012)
13.  Bharatiya Samaj ( Criticism,  2009)
14.  Hindi Ka Gadhyaparv ( Criticism, 2010)
15.  Sath Sath ( interviews, 2012)
16.  Zamane Se Do Do Hath ( Novel, 2010)
17.  kavita Ki zameen Aur Zameen Ki Kavita ( Criticism, 2008)

Address:

Prof. Namwar Singh
32-A Shivalik Apartment
SFS Alakhananda, Kalkaji
New Delhi - 110 019

Ph: 011-26033762 / 09811210285