Ram Vilas Sharma

Ram Vilas Sharma Biography

Ram Vilas Sharma was a progressive literary critic, linguist, poet and thinker, belonging to Hindi literature. He lived during the period, 10 October 1912 – 30 May 2000. One of the prominent progressive writers and thinkers of his time, his name is always counted among the most powerful noted poets of the progressive period in India. He has done detailed study on the works and contributions of some of the great Indian writers like Acharya Shukla, Nirala, Bhartendu, Premchand and has published his thoughts as books belonging to literary criticism. He was deeply influenced by the works of these pioneers of Indian literature too.

Ram Vilas Sharma was born on 10 October 1912 in Unchagaon Sani, Unnao district of present day Uttar Pradesh. He did his primary schooling from his native village, followed by Jhansi and then moved to Lucknow for advanced studies. He completed his M.A. and PhD. in English Literature from Lucknow. As a lecturer he started his professional career at Lucknow University, later worked in many colleges and finally retired as Director of KM Hindi Institute, Agra. He was basically a critic. He was a socialist both in thought and deed.

As a writer some of his major works include - Bharatiya Sahitya ki Bhumika, Premchand aur unka yug, Nirala ki Sahitya Sadhana (in 3 volumes), Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi aur Hindi navjagaran, Nai kavita aur astitvavad, Acharya Ramchandra Shukla aur Hindi alochna, Dhool, Bhartendu Yug aur Hindi bhasha ki vikas parampara, Bhartendu Harishchandra aur Hindi navjagaran ki samasyayen, Bharat mein angrazi raj aur marxvad (in 2 volumes), Bharat ke Pracheen bhasha parivar aur Hindi (in 3 volumes) etc.

As a literary critic, he gained recognition for the first time after he presented scholarly paper on Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', at a session of Hindi Sahitya Sammelan. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1970 for his Nirala ki Sahitya Sadhana. The book was published in three volumes.

Published: September 29, 2018

Updated: September 29, 2018