Remembering the Enigmatic Anwar Nadeem

 

A biographical essay on the Urdu poet and writer Anwar Nadeem (1937-2017) of Malihabad, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, by his historian son. The essay is at once biographical and autobiographical because of the overlaps in the lives of the father, the subject, and the son, the author. It not only documents Nadeem's life and brings into sharp focus his literary contributions, but also explores his interfaith marriage to a Hindu and his secularism and his assaults on organized religion found in his poetry. It also draws attention to how he was deprived of the recognition he richly deserved by the Urdu literary world which was and continues to be prejudiced against him because of his apostasy and his radical and unconventional views and his severe criticism of his peers. "Remembering the Enigmatic Anwar Nadeem on his Birth Anniversary". An abridged version of the essay can be read here.