''Quest'' is a quarterly and bimonthly Indian journal published between 1954 and 1975 and featuring 20 years of independent India’s publishing history.

History

The publication was founded in 1954 and ceased in 1975 when the government of

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

declared in Indian national emergency. It was a product of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

and was created by the Central Intelligence Agency. It was published by the Congress for Cultural Freedom's Indian branch (ICCF), which was led by

Minoo Masani Minocher Rustom "Minoo" Masani (20 November 1905 – 27 May 1998) was an Indian politician, a leading figure of the erstwhile Swatantra Party. He was a three-time Member of Parliament, representing Gujarat's Rajkot constituency in the second, ...

and Jayaprakash Narayan. Masani's emphasis of politics, drew the ire of Jawaharlal Nehru and ran into troubles with another publications called ''Freedom First''. The publisher and secretary Narie Oliaji, resigned, complaining that Masani was a political polemicist lacking the ‘intelligence and zeal to represent the Indian anti-communist intelligentsia’. In 1954 Nicolas Nabokov, the Secretary General of the Congress for Cultural Freedom met Masani and ordered him to separate the cultural and political movements and to gain more support and respect from Indian intellectuals through the creation of a journal, which would be named ''Quest'' and devoted exclusively to cultural matters. During its twenty years of history it featured essays, fiction and poetry from writers such as Nirad Chaudhuri, Dilip Chitre, Allen Ginsberg, Jyotirmoy Datta,

Mujibur Rehman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920–1975) was a politician and statesman who became the first President of Bangladesh. Mujibur Rahman or Mojibur Rahman may also refer to: * Mujibur Rahman (scientist) (1919–2015), Bangladeshi medical academic *Mojibur ...

, Agha Shahid Ali, Jayanta Mahapatra Dom Moraes, Ashis Nandy,

Gauri Deshpande Gauri Deshpande (11 February 1942 – 1 March 2003) was a novelist, short story writer, and poet from Maharashtra, India. She wrote in Marathi and English. Biography Deshpande was born in Pune to Irawati and Dinkar Dhondo Karve, youngest of th ...

, Adil Jussawalla, Mahapatra, A.K. Ramanujan, Saleem Peeradina, Arun Kolatkar, Dilip Chitre, Keki Daruwalla, Anita Desai, Kiran Nagarkar and Abraham Eraly.

Legacy

In 1966, a selection of articles were produced as ''Ten years of Quest'' edited by Abu Sayeed Ayyub and Amlan Datta. In 2011 a selection of articles was republished as ''The best of Quest''.

References

Bibliography

*''The Best of Quest'', edited by Achal Prabhala, Laeeq Futehally and Arshia Sattar, Publisher Tranquebar, India, 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Quest 1954 establishments in Bombay State 1975 disestablishments in India Bi-monthly magazines published in India Defunct literary magazines Defunct magazines published in India The Emergency (India) English-language magazines published in India Literary magazines published in India Quarterly magazines published in India Magazines established in 1954 Magazines disestablished in 1975 Mass media in Mumbai