Naiyer Masud (1936 – 24 July 2017) was an Indian
scholar and
short story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
writer.
Early life and education
Masud was born in
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
and spent nearly all his life there, working until his retirement as a Professor of
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
at
Lucknow University
The University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is a public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1920, the University of Lucknow is one of the oldest government owned institutions of higher edu ...
.
Masud was the son of
Masud Hassan Rizvi, also a Lucknow University Professor of Persian, a famed scholar of
dastaan who was awarded the '
Padma Shri
Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...
' for 'Literature and Education' in 1970. He is the elder brother of the noted satirist
Azhar Masud.
Career and honors
Masud is the author of many scholarly books and translations (notably of
Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typi ...
), but is best known for his short stories, collected in the volumes
Ganjifa
Ganjifa, Ganjapa or Gânjaphâ, is a card game and type of playing cards that are most associated with Persia and India. After Ganjifa cards fell out of use in Iran before the twentieth century, India became the last country to produce them. The f ...
,
Simiya,
Itr-e-kaafoor, and
Taoos Chaman Ki Myna. For the last, he was awarded the 2001
Urdu prize of the Sahitya Akademi and the
Saraswati Samman
The Saraswati Samman is an annual award for outstanding prose or poetry literary works in any of the 22 languages of India listed in Schedule VIII of the Constitution of India. It is named after the Hindu goddess of knowledge, Saraswati.
The Saras ...
in 2007.
He received the honor of being the subject of the entire 1997 issue of the
Annual of Urdu Studies.
A large selection of his stories have been translated into English by
M.U. Memon in the volumes ''
The Snake Catcher'' and ''
Essence of Camphor''.
References
A Taste for Secrecy: Reading Naiyer Masud. Almost Island, 2018M.U. Memon, Naiyer Masud: A Prefatory Note
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masud, Naiyer
1936 births
2017 deaths
Urdu-language writers from India
Indian Muslims
Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu
Writers from Lucknow
University of Lucknow faculty
Urdu-language writers
Urdu-language short story writers
20th-century Indian short story writers