NARUAL, SURINDER SINGH (1917 -)

Narula, Surinder Singh is a technique-conscious novelist, whose Peo putar (Father and the son, 1946) gave a fresh thematic dimension to the Punjabi novel. His literary corpus includes 12 novels, 7 collections of short stories, some collection of poems and few books of literary critcism, both in Punjabi and English. He was born in Amritsar and after graduating from Khalsa College, Amritsar, with three medals to his credit, he joined the State Secretariat in 1938; but after doing his M.A. in English (1942), he joined as a Lecturer at the local Khalsa College. Afterwards, he was at Rawalpindi (Khalsa College) for a short period, and then after joining Government Service he was posted at different other colleges.

He was the Head of the Department of English and also the Principal before his retirement. He was honoured as the best litterateur of the year by the Punjab Government Languages Department in 1981. His major works have been translated into Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam and Gujarati. Peo putar has been translated into Russian and a few other foreign languages as well. He stands second to Nanak Singh for the portrayal of the city life. His writings are said to be tinged with the leftist ideology.

His important works include: Novels:Rangmahal (Pleasure-palace, 1950); Jagbiti (The experiences, 1953); Silaluni (Unpleasant, 1962); Galan din rat dian (Life goes on, 1968); Rahe kurahe (On the track, off the track, 1980). Short stories: Lok parlok (The world and thereafter, 1952); Rup de parchhven (Shadows of beauty, 1953); Janjal (The problem, 1962); Gali guandh (Neighbours, 1980). Criticism: Punjabi sahit di jan pachhan (An introduction to Punjabi literature, 1941); Punjabi novel-kar (Punjabi novelists, 1951); Bhai Vir Singh (1952); Punjabi sahit da itihas (History of Punjabi literature, 1953): Alochna vistar (Criticism expansion, 1981); Mohan Singh, ik prichay (Mohan Singh, an introduction, 1981). History: Sada itihas (Our history, 1945).

References :

1. Amarjit Singh, Punjabi sahit da itihas—Qissa kal,Amritsar, 1981.
2. Kohli, S.S., Punjabi Sahit da Itihas, Ludhiana, 1955.
3. Mohan Singh, A History of Punjabi Literature, Amritsar, 1956.
4. Sekhon, S.S. and K.S. Duggal, A History of Punjabi Literature, Delhi, 1992.