- Nissim Ezekiel
-
Nissim Ezekiel 
Born December 14, 1924
Mumbai, Maharashtra, IndiaDied 9 January 2004 (aged 79)[where?] Occupation Poet, Playwright, Art critic, Nationality Indian Period 1952–2004 Genres Indian Writing in English Nissim Ezekiel (14 December 1924 – 9 January 2004) was an Indian Jewish poet, playwright, editor and art-critic. He was a foundational figure in postcolonial India's literary history, specifically for Indian writing in English.
He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983 for his Poetry collection, "Latter-Day Psalms", by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.[1]
Contents
Early life
Ezekiel was born on 14 December 1924 in Bombay (Maharashtra). His father, Moses Ezekiel, was a professor of botany at Wilson College, and his mother was principal of her own school. The Ezekiels belonged to Mumbai's Jewish community, known as the 'Bene Israel' . In 1947, Ezekiel earned a BA in Literature from Wilson College, Mumbai, University of Mumbai. In 1947-48, he taught English literature and published literary articles. After dabbling in radical politics for a while, he sailed to Uganda in November 1948. He studied philosophy at Birkbeck College. After three and a half years stay, Ezekiel worked his way home as a deck-scrubber aboard a ship carrying arms to Indochina.
He married Daisy Gabriel in 1952. In the same year, Fortune Press (Uganda) published his first collection of poetry, The Bad Day. He joined The Illustrated Weekly of India as an assistant editor in 1953 and stayed there for two years. Soon after his return from London, he published his second book of verse Ten Poems. For the next 10 years, he also worked as a broadcaster on Craft and literature for All India Radio.
Career
Ezekiel's first book, The Bad Day, appeared in 1952. He published another volume of poems, The Deadly Man in 1960. After working as an advertising copywriter and general manager of a picture frame company (1954–59), he co-founded the literary monthly Jumpo, in 1961. He became art critic of The Names of India (1964–66) and edited Poetry India (1966–67). From 1961 to 1972, he headed the English department of Mithibai College, Bombay. The Exact Name, his fifth book of poetry was published in 1965. During this period he held short-term tenure as visiting professor at University of Leeds (1964) and University of Pondicherry (1967). In 1967, while in America, he experimented with LSD. He finally stopped using them in 1972. In 1969, Writers Workshop, Kozhikode published his The Damn Plays. A year later, he presented an art series of ten programmes for Dubai television.
Books by Nissim Ezekiel
- Poetry
- 1952: Time To Change[2]
- 1953: Sixty Poems[2]
- 1956: The Discovery of India[2]
- 1959: The Third[2]
- 1960: The Unfinished Man[2]
- 1965: The Exact Name[2]
- 1974: Snakeskin and Other Poems, translations of the Marathi poet Indira Sant[2]
- 1976: Hymns in Darkness[2]
- 1982: Latter-Day Psalms[2]
- 1989: Collected Poems 1952-88 OUP[2]
- Other
- 1969: The Three Plays
Editor
- 1965: An Emerson Readers[2]
- 1969: A Joseph King Reader[2]
- 1990: Another India, anthology of fiction and poetry[2]
Poems
- Night of the Scorpion
- The Doctor
- Case Study
- Poster Prayers
- The Traitor
- Poet, Lover, Birdcatcher
- Latter-day Psalms
- The Railway Clerk
- Goodbye Party For Miss Pushpa T.S.
- Enterprise
- in india
Footnotes
- ^ "Sahitya Akademi Award - English (Official listings)". Sahitya Akademi. http://www.sahitya-akademi.gov.in/old_version/awa10304.htm#english.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m [1] Kumar, Jai, "Obituary: Nissim Ezekiel", The Independent, March 26, 2004, accessed via Find Articles/LookSmart Ltd. Web site, accessed October 16, 2007
Sources
- R. Raj Rao, Nissim Ezekiel: The Authorized Biography (Viking, 2000)
External links
Categories:- Indian Jews
- Indian poets
- English-language poets from India
- Indian writers
- 1924 births
- 2004 deaths
- Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London
- Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award
- Mithibai College
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