TY  - BOOK
AU  - Bailey, Thomas Grahame
AU  - Introduction by Muhammad Reza Kazimi
TI  - A History of Urdu Literature
SN  - 9780195475180
U1  - 891.43909 
PY  - 2008///
CY  - Karachi
PB  - Oxford University Press
KW  - Urdu literature
KW  - Hindustani literature
KW  - Urdu literature - history and criticism
N1  - T. Grahame Bailey was born in Ambala, India, in 1872 into a family of missionaries. He was sent to school in Scotland at the age of nine, and returned to India in 1895 after being ordained. He served in India for 25 years before returning to Britain. He obtained his D.Litt. from the University of Edinburgh and became a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. The author retired from this position in 1940 and died two years later; It include Bibliography and Index
N2  - This book, first published in 1932, successfully managed to order a vast and amorphous body of literary activity into one volume. Even more deeply than preceding works by Abdul Latif and Ram Babu Saxena, it marked a stage in the development of literary consciousness.

Taking a historical view, the study regards the formative Deccan period as particularly important, both for the natural bent of the language and the natural inclination of the poets. The author’s view that the pure, indigenous Urdu is better than the Persianised Urdu is clearly explained. This literary ends with a notice on Mohammad Iqbal When the book was written the Progressive Writers’ Movement had not been launched, and Bailey stood at a cusp. From this vantage, he provided us with a useful summary of the past, and gave a context to unfolding trends in literature.

Another interesting, in fact important, aspect of this work is that the author is rarely dismissive of any poet, however minor. Bailey’s credentials as a historian of literature are validated by the place he assigns to minor poets who make up the general fabric of literature to a far greater extent that the major poet-the major poets being too individual-and their sameness being a challenge to a discerning critic seeking precision
ER  -