Ghulam Abbas (writer)

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This article is about the Pakistani short-story writer. For other people with the name Ghulam Abbas, see Ghulam Abbas (disambiguation).
Ghulam Abbas
غلام عباس
Born17 November 1909[1]
Amritsar, British India (now in Punjab, India)
DiedNovember 2, 1982(1982-11-02) (aged 71)[1]
Karachi, Pakistan
NationalityPakistani
Occupation(s)Writer, magazine editor, translator
Organization(s)All India Radio, during World War II
Known forShort story author[2]
Notable workJaaray ki Chandani[3]
Anandi[1]
Kan Ras
Dhanak[3]
Al-Ḥamra ke Afsane
Overcoat[1]
Jazeera-e- Sukhanwaran[2]
Mohabbat Roti Hai
Jala Wattan
AwardsSitara-e-Imtiaz in 1967[citation needed]

Ghulam Abbas (Urdu: غلام عباس; 17 November 1909  – 2 November 1982) was a short story writer from Pakistan.[1][2]

Early life

Ghulam Abbas was born on the 17th of November 1909 in Amritsar, British Punjab into a Pashtun family of the Sadozai tribe tracting its roots to Afghanistan. His family shifted to Lahore when he was still a child. He got his Intermediate degree as late as 1944 from the Punjab University because he began to earn a living as a writer early on and couldn't complete his education.[4]

Ghulam Abbas could speak Urdu, Punjabi, English and Persian.[4]

Career

Early work as editor and translator

In his early career, Ghulam Abbas worked as a publisher with Maulvi Mumtaz Ali, and specialized in the translation of literature for children.[4]

Radio and move to Pakistan

In 1938, Ghulam Abbas moved to Delhi, becoming the editor of All India Radio’s magazine Awaaz. Following the 1947 Partition, he'd work for Radio Pakistan, initiating its magazine Aahung, and would work with both Radio Pakistan and BBC London over the next years.[4]

Established author

Ghulam Abbas began to publish his original works, mostly short stories, in the 1930s, and in 1960 received the Adamjee Literary Award for his work Jaaray ki Chaandni.[4]

Personal life

Relationships and family

His first wife was named Zakira and he had five children, four daughters and a son.[4] His second wife was a Greek-Scottish-Romanian woman named Christian Vlasto (renamed Zainab) with whom he had a son and three daughters.[2]

Hobbies

Ghulam Abbas had a large private library with some 20,000 books on all subjects, while his other hobbies included playing music, having mastered musical instruments such as the guitar, the violin and the flute, as well playing chess, including having competitions with fellow writers such as Noon Meem Rashid.[5]

Themes and writing style

Ghulam Abbas has also written stories, plays and poems for children, his main field is fiction. He has a very high position in modern Urdu fiction. He takes the plot of the fiction from around him and writes it so skillfully that the reader gets lost in its details. And is shocked at the end of it. Their characters belong to the real world. Their language is simple. The narration is lively and engaging. Technically, his fictions are impeccable. At first glance, his story seems very simple, but as we reflect on it, we see a great depth of meaning in it. The story "Overcoat" (one of his prestigious works) is very simple on the surface, but if you read it carefully, it reveals many layers of deep social meaning.

Ghulam Abbas's characters are not pre-planned, but he picks up a few ordinary people from some class and corner of their society and environment and then presents them with the whole truths of their lives and all the good and bad details of their surroundings. They make their characters into ideals, not consciously convincing them to put a stamp of good on their personality, but in the world, as is usually the case, that good is often in decline and evil is rampant. Ghulam Abbas presents these things in exactly the same way. There is no extremism or idealism here, but the reflection of human nature is found in his works. There are colors of life in his art. When one gets a sense of problems and life he brings is such a deep analysis, that they bring the truth reader in front of the reader in the same way as in reality. He does not care about their egos. Rather, he brings forth the secrets of life.[6]

Awards and recognition

He received the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, the third-highest civilian award of Pakistan, in 1967.[4]

Books

  • Jazeera-e-Sukhanwaran (published 1937)[1]
  • Anandi (Marketplace) (a Bollywood film Mandi (1983) was based on this Ghulam Abbas's short story)[7]
  • The Women's Quarter and Other Stories from Pakistan (published 1984)[1]
  • Intikhab Ghulam Abbas (Selection of Stories by Ghulam Abbas) (compiled by Asif Farrukhi)[1]
  • Gondni wala Takiya Novel[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Profile of Ghulam Abbas (writer) on goodreads.com website Retrieved 17 January 2018
  2. ^ a b c d Peerzada Salman (29 May 2014). "Ghulam Abbas was a shy but deep person". Dawn. Pakistan. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  3. ^ a b E-Books By: Ghulam Abbas on rekhta.org website Retrieved 17 January 2018
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Ghulam Abbas (1909-1982)". Archived from the original on 3 January 2025.
  5. ^ Peerzada, Salman (29 May 2014). "'Ghulam Abbas was a shy but deep person'". Dawn News. Archived from the original on 3 January 2025.
  6. ^ O level Syllabus A, book by Amir Waheed (translation)
  7. ^ Mandi (1983) Indian film based on Ghulam Abbas's short story on IMDb website Retrieved 17 January 2018
  8. ^ "Gondniwala Takia / گوندنی والا تکیہ".