Jewish Indian Poet Nissim Ezekiel dies at 79

Nissim Ezekiel, who helped set a new tone for Indian poetry in English, died aged 79 after a prolonged bout with Alzheimer’s disease, local media reported on Sunday.
Ezekiel, who had been a professor, editor and a literary critic for state radio and The Times of India, died in his native Bombay late on Friday.
His first collection of poetry, A Time to Change, was published in 1952.
Critics found that Ezekiel, a member of India’s tiny Jewish community, approached poetry as an outsider and was free from the self-conscious nationalism prevalent in much Indian literature.
Instead, his voice was that of the urban Indian describing life in the city and issues of alienation and integration, marriage and sexuality.
Educated in part at the Birkbeck College at the University of London, Ezekiel taught American literature at Bombay University.

ABC News Bulletin

vgl. auch Outlook India 26.1.04
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