Gopi Chand Narang - Early Life

Early Life

Gopi Chand Narang did MA in Urdu from University of Delhi in 1954 and got Research Fellowship by the Ministry of Education to complete his Ph.D. in 1958. Professor Narang started teaching Urdu literature at the St. Stephen’s College (1957–58) and after a brief stint; joined Delhi University and became a Reader in 1961. In 1963, he joined the University of Wisconsin as a Visiting Professor and was re-invited for a second term by the same University in 1968. He also taught at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and University of Oslo, Norway. Professor Narang joined Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi as a Professor in 1974, and after serving Jamia for twelve years, he rejoined University of Delhi in 1986 and worked there till 1995. In 2005, the University of Delhi in recognition of his immense learning made him ‘Professor Emeritus. Professor Narang’s literary odyssey began with the scholarly interest in stylistics, semiotics and socio-linguistics and his first book Karkhandari Dialect of Delhi Urdu was published in 1961. It presented a sociolinguistic analysis of a neglected speech used by the indigenous workers and artisans of Delhi. Professor Gopi Chand Narang has been on the right side of many of substantial literary discourses of the twentieth century and his more than 64 books in Urdu, English and Hindi unfailingly demonstrate a sharp critical insight and a deep understanding of the contemporary ideological positions and literary debates. In his writings one can see that a variety of discourses expressing different ideological positions are in play without being evaluated by a totalizing discourse.