Hiren Gohain (born 1939) is a scholar, writer, literary critic, and social scientist from the Indian state of

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

Academic life

Gohain studied in

Cotton College Cotton College was a Roman Catholic boarding school in Cotton, Staffordshire, United Kingdom. It was also known as ''Saint Wilfrid's College''. The school buildings were centred on Cotton Hall, a country house used by religious communities fro ...

, and did his graduation from Presidency College, Calcutta and then moved to

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

to pursue his post-graduation in English literature. After completion of his master's degree, for some time, he became a lecturer in

Kirori Mal College Kirori Mal College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi. Established in 1954, it is located in the North Campus of the university in New Delhi, India. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the sciences, humanitie ...

of Delhi University. Later, he went to the

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

for doctoral research on the topic 'Paradise Lost and the 17th Century Crisis' later published as 'Tradition and Paradise Lost: A Heretical View', a work highly acclaimed for its original research and fresh perspective. After coming back from

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, he became a professor at the Department of English in

Gauhati University Gauhati University, also known as GU, is a Collegiate university, collegiate public state university located in Guwahati, Assam, India. It was established on 26 January 1948 under the provisions of an Act enacted by the Assam Legislative Assem ...

Contributions as a literary critic

It was Gohain who for the first time brought the ideas and methods of Anglo-American New Criticism to the study of Assamese/Indian literature in Assamese. While studying in Cambridge, he had an eclectic radical ideology but later on, after his return to India, he became a Marxist. It was he who adapted the ideas of critics like György Lukács, Antonio Gramsci, and other critics into the nascent field of Assamese literary criticism. Some of his books in Assamese are ''Sahityar Satya'', ''Sahitya Aru Chetana'', ''Biswayatan'', ''Asomiya Jatiya Jibanat Mahapurushiya Paramapara'', ''Assam: A Burning Question'' and several other significant and widely read books. He has also written 4 volumes of memoirs which are also relevant for their incorporation of social and historical content. He is a contributor to journals such as ''Economic and Political Weekly'', ''Frontier'', and occasional publications of institutions like Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS), Centre for English and Foreign Languages (CIEFL), Shillong. He also is a columnist for various regional and national newspapers.

Other contributions

He is also a regular contributor to Economic and Political Weekly. His book 'Assam A Burning Question' is a compilation of several essays on the socio-political crisis confronting Assam in the context of

Assam Movement The Assam Movement (also Anti-Foreigners Agitation) (1979–1985) was a popular uprising in Assam, India, that demanded the Government of India to detect, disenfranchise and deport illegal aliens. Led by All Assam Students Union (AASU) and A ...

written in the mid-1980s, and the period dominated by extremism. Recently, he played an important role in the mediation of peace talks between the Government of India and the Assamese insurgent group

ULFA The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) (Assamese: সংযুক্ত মুক্তি বাহিনী, অসম) is an armed separatist organisation operating in the Northeast Indian state of Assam. It seeks to establish an indep ...

. He was the founder president of the Asomiya Sahitya Sanmilani.He is a recipient of Sahitya Aademy award for his book on Sankardev.

Selected published works & journals

* Tradition & Paradise lost: a heretical view (1997, English) * Assam, a burning question (1984, English) * On the present movement in Assam (1980, English) * Bodo Stir in Perspective * Nature and art in Shakespeare: an essay on Hamlet (English) * Sahityar Satya (1970, Assamese) * Bastabar Swapna (1972, Assamese) * Kal Bhramar (1974, Assamese) * Kewal Manuhar Ase Gaan (1970, Assamese) * Samaj Aru Samalochana (1972, Assamese) * Sristi Aru Jukti (1972, Assamese) * Sahitya Aru Chetana (1976, Assamese) * Kirtan Puthir Roh Bisar (1981, Assamese) * Tejar Aakhare Likha (1982, Assamese) * Biswayatan (1983, Assamese) * Kabitar Bichar Aru Natun Samalochana (1986, Assamese) * Asamiya Jatiya Jibanat Mahaapurusiya Parampara (1987, Assamese) * Upanyasar Adhunik Samalochana (Vol. 1 & 2, Assamese) * Adristwa Aru Asam (1988, Assamese) * Kalasrot Aru Kandari (1995, Assamese) * Nature and Art in Shakespeare (1988, English) * The Magic Plant (1992, English) * Aspects of Early 19th Century Bengalee Culture (1990, English) 23. Struggling in a time warp (2019, English) * On Saffronisation of Education

Awards and honors

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

in 1989

Political and National activism

Gohain has been a voice of Assam as critic of Assamese national extremism, Hindutva extremism and socio-political issues. Gohain opposed the

citizenship (Amendment) Act The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December 2019. It amended the Citizenship Act, 1955 by providing a pathway to Indian citizenship for persecuted religious minorities from Afghanistan, Banglades ...

and equated the exclusion of Muslims from the

CAA CAA may refer to: Law * Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 of India ** Citizenship Amendment Act protests, Protests regarding the Citizenship (Amendment) Act * Copyright transfer agreement, Copyright assignment agreement, to transfer copyright to ...

purview of the as a move similar to that of the pogrom against the Jews by Nazis in Germany during World War II. Gohain has been a strong critic of Narendra Modi. Gohain participated in an anti-CAA protest organised by the All Assam Journalists Union in front of Guwahati Press Club.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gohain, Hiren 1939 births Living people People from Golaghat Assamese-language poets Poets from Assam 20th-century Indian poets Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Assamese