Description
Viva Books Letters From Abroad by A A Ansari
The reclusive Indian critic Professor Asloob Ahmad Ansari, whose magnum opus Arrows of Intellect is considered one of the most important four books ever written on Blake, has drawn world-wide appreciation including from titans like Northrop Frye, F.R. Leavis, Kathleen Raine, Q.D. Leavis, Kenneth Muir, Wilson Knight, L.C. Knights, etc. The 170 missives in Letters from Abroad reveal an unsuspected nexus of world figures with an Indian scholar. The uncharacteristically deep appreciation of these reticent master-scholars points to Professor Ansari's own stature.The letters exchanged between accomplished people are two-way mirrors. Some reflections of Professor Asloob Ahmad in these epistles have been indicated. The self-revelations of the writers hark to personalities too well-known to need any cues. But like an expected yet new gem they are not without delight and instruction, particularly so when many of them have to be extracted by the intelligent reader himself or herself for instance, Leavis's impatience with Professor Asloob Ahmad's appeal to authorities actually showing his own equality and indifference to the greats. The letters also include many issues of Literary Theory and Criticism. Fourthly, given the distinction of the addressors and the addressee, they possess a general historical and aesthetic value, such as the moving description of Leavis's last days by Q.D. Leavis. Most of the writers have left this world - though their creations adorn library shelves - but the recipient is with us. One of the uses of this volume would lie in (re)impelling the reader to benefit and be appeased from the works and vision of the interlocutors.