ڈاکٹر شاہد صدیقی کی کالم نگاری کا تنقیدی مطالعہ

Abstract

The literary genres column, fiction and essay are markedly independent and different form one another in content, style, treatment and subject etc. However, there are few distinguished Urdu writers in whose writings it is nearly impossible to draw a clear distinction between these categories. Dr. Shahid Siddiqui, who for quite long have been an English columnist, is one of such stalwarts who within few years have shot to fame and as such has been widely acknowledged in both literary and journalistic circles for his Urdu columns in the daily “Dunya News” and which have now been compiled in his two books “زیرِ آسمان” and “موسمِ خوش رنگ”. What distinguishes his columns from those of his contemporaries is his unique literary blend, descriptive style, frictional treatment of subjects and characters, spontaneity, poetical richness, and essay-oriented research-cum-documentary contents etc. Prof. Fateh Muhammad Malik has befittingly suggested that his columns cannot simply be taken as journalistic write-ups, rather they deserve to be acknowledged as literary and scientific master pieces. This essay is an attempt to critically study numerous aspects of Dr. Shahid Siddiqui’s columns in light of genre, treatment of subject, literary, journalist and fictional aspects.