Ahmed Ali'S Biography & Works
Ahmed Ali son of Syed Shujauddin belongs to a family of a Muslim theologians and imams in the great mosque of Shah Jhan at Delhi. Syed Shujauddin was a civil servant Ahmed Ali live with his father wherever he move. After the death of his father he began to live with his uncle who is more prudish than others. When Ahmed ali began to respond Urdu poetry he was greatly discouraged by resentment people because of the ambivalent attitude of the people towards Urdu poetry. So he started writing in English. His first published English story was land of Twilight which was one act drama in 1931.
He collaborated with three friends to publish a first pro-revolution anthology, Angaray (Burning Coals), which earned the scorn of conservatives and Islamic fanatics. In addition to ridiculing the authors, his critics threatened them with death. Three months later the British government to ban the book. In response to censorship, Ali maintained hope for the future through literature. Ahmed Ali became the co-founder of the AIPWA (All India Progressive Writer Association. In the same year Ali published the Volume of twelve stories under the title of Shole. Not all the stories under this volume are as defined by AIPWA. He refused to accept the point that only the proletariat and peasantry were progressive. He said it is not apolitical organisation.
The novel Twilight in Delhi is published in 1940. The novel is set around 1911 to 1919 in Delhi. Ahmed Ali has vividly drawn the picture of old Delhi and its Muslim inhabitants of that era. He depicts the themes of disintegration, degeneration, alienation, gender and social conflicts, nostalgia, the downfall of the Mughal emperors, and the effects of colonialism and imperialism on Indian Muslims in Delhi. The novel is shot through with rich symbolic imagery.
The palm tree, the henna plant, dogs, cats and pigeons refer not only to the behaviors of characters but also the whole Muslim society. The novel starts at dawn, with "twilight" referring to the rise of the sun as well as the rise of the protagonist Mir Nihal's living standards. By contrast, descriptions of twilight at evening in the closing sentences portray the overall downfall and destruction of not only the family of Mir Nihal but also the Mughal Empire altogether. The novel was not published until after the intervention of the prominent English writer E. M. Forster.
