Ram Vilas Sharma
Nirala ki Sahitya Sadhana
(Rajkamal Prakashan, New Delhi; 1968)
(Sahitya Academy Awardee-Hindi-1970)
"Ram Vilas Sharma (born 1912) is a distinguished poet, linguist and critic in Hindi. Born in a peasant family of Avadh, Sharma received his education first at Jhansi and then at Lucknow University. An M.A. and later Ph.D. in English Literature, he was for a period lecturer in the University of Lucknow, and since 1943 has been Head of English Department of the Balwant Rajput College at Agra.
Robust and progressive in outlook, Sharma was soon drawn into the new intellectual movement in the country and was closely associated with the poet Nirala whose fiery personality influenced him in various ways. Soon Sharma took to experimentation in poetry and was one of the seven new poets in Taar Saptak. .
Sharma began his career as a critic even when a university student and his early writings bear eloquent witness to his fervour and his incisive wit. With the spread of Marxist thought in the Hindi region, Sharma took a leading role in the progressive literary movement in Uttar Pradesh. His critical essays of this period which later appeared in a number of volumes are remarkable for their dating and deep analytical approach.
The Award book, Nirala ki Sahitya Sadhana, is a full and comprehensive biography of the pioneer and dynamic Hindi poet Nirala. For its deep insight into the many facets of the genius and personality of the myriad-minded poet, for its masterly analysis and vigorous style, and for its wealth of biographical detail the work has been hailed as an outstanding contribution to contemporary Hindi literature.” (Citation)
This biography written by Ram Vilas Sharma is a work of historical and literary importance in terms of quality as well as quantity. It is written in the style of a modern epic novel reflecting the various aspects of the personality of the great poet Nirala and his writings in a creative and critical manner with a progressive outlook. Unlike other Marxist critics of Hindi, Sharma, in this book, avoids both types of extreme approaches in the assessment of a creative personality. He adopts neither a mechanical approach nor is he sentimental. He also does not carry postures of being over-objective like the extreme leftists and also avoids being over-subjective like the extreme reactionaries.
Sharma has tried to reconstruct the total life of Nirala using all the material available to him. He has taken note of almost all the available historical facts regarding the life of the poet, his relatives and close friends. Where such facts were not available, he has filled the gaps by using creatively all the hints reflected in the writings of Nirala and in the writings of others about Nirala. The author never lacks human sympathy for the poet which is required while writing such biography without having a soft spot for any misplaced sympathy. At the same time, the author has remained dispassionate towards the weaknesses and contradictions of the poet Nirala, and has never over-played his human sympathy. For example, while referring to Nirala's literary duels with the great poets Pant and Prasad, Sharma has not forgotten to mention the positive qualities of these two contemporary poets. In rendering the various internal details with regard to his family background with social and cultural surroundings, etc., the author's prime objective bas been to depict the internal personality (i.e. mentality, mental framework and Nirala's apprehension of internal world in his own-self).
Sharma has described the characteristics of this biography in his own words:
"I have presented an objective portrait of his life as far as possible which is not meant to intoxicate the reader but to help him with his sense of reason to understand the personality of Nirala. A majority of biographies end with the death of a hero, but this work does not. In this book, there are various chapters devoted to the analysis of personality. The main purpose is .to understand the personality of Nirala."
This book is the first volume of a major project on Nirala running into 500 pages treatise on the personality and creative work of Nirala.
Raj Kumar Saini
(Source: Sahitya Academy Awards – Books and Writers – 1955-1978
Published by Sahitya Academy. ISBN 81 7201 014 1)
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