Amaresh Datta ( – 6 August 2020) was an Indian scholar of English literature. He was the chief editor of the ''

Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature The Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature is a multi-volume English language encyclopedia of Indian literature published by Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters. The idea for the project emerged in the mid-1970s, and three volumes w ...

'' published by

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of the Indian government. Its off ...

Biography

Datta began teaching at the

Sagar University Dr. Hari Singh Gour University (DHGV), formerly University of Saugar and more popularly known as Sagar University or University of Saugar, is a central university in the city of Sagar, the state of Madhya Pradesh or (MP), India. It is one of ...

in Madhya Pradesh in the early 1950s. Datta taught at

Gauhati University Gauhati University also known as GU, is a collegiate public state university located in Guwahati, Assam, India. It was established on 26 January 1948 under the provisions of an Act enacted by the Assam Legislative Assembly and is the oldest un ...

for 20 years, retiring in 1980 as the dean. He was honoured by the varsity with the position of

emeritus professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

. He also taught at the

Dibrugarh University Dibrugarh University is a Collegiate University, collegiate public state university in the Indian state of Assam. It is the second oldest University in Assam and in North East India. It is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universitie ...

where he was the head of the department of English. He was the recipient of an honorary doctorate degree awarded by

Assam University Assam University is a central public university located at Silchar, Assam, India. It was founded in the year 1994 by the provisions of an act enacted by the Parliament of India. Former Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha is the Chancellor, the Gover ...

, Silchar. Considered an authority of Shakespeare, he published a book ''Shakespeare's Tragic Vision and Art'' (1963) which was appreciated by critics. In a review,

Madeleine Doran Madeleine Kathryn Doran (August 12, 1905 – October 19, 1996) was an American literary critic and poet who taught at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1935 until her retirement in 1975. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Doran graduated from S ...

described the book as "refreshingly old-fashioned" and as being deeply perceptive, with a lot of new insights being put forward on individual tragedies, but also noted the circularity in reasoning as a fundamental weakness. He published a collection of poems, ''Captive Moments'' (1971), and has been honoured by the International Association of Poetry of Rome for his poetry. In 2010, he received the

Kamal Kumari National Award The Kamal Kumari National Award is an Indian Award given to individuals and groups in India for outstanding contribution to Art, Culture & Literature and Science & Technology. It was instituted by the Kamal Kumari Foundation in 1990 in memory of ...

. He received the Krishna Kanta Handiqui National award in 2018 offered by

Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University is a state university in Guwahati, Assam, India. It was founded in 2006. KKHSOU offers a range of undergraduate, postgraduate, diploma, and certificate courses in various fields such as humanities, s ...

. He died on 6 August 2020. His death was condoled by the

Chief Minister of Assam The chief minister of Assam, an Indian state, is the head of the Government of Assam. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is the state's ''de jure'' head, but '' de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following e ...

Bibliography

Works published by Amaresh Datta include: *''Captive Moments'' (1971) *''Time's Harvest: A Cycle of Poems and Drawings Based on the Ramayana and the Mahabharata'' (1996) *''Lotus and the Cross'' (1997) *''Mysticism in Poetry'' *''India's Cultural Unity-Fact and Fiction'' *''Poetry, Religion and Culture and Sri Sankar Dev'' *''Banaprastha'' (2008) *''Comedy: a Rhetorical Fiction: Five Essays on Shakespeare's Comedies'' *''In the Valley of Time and Tide''

References

Indian literary critics 20th-century Indian poets Academic staff of Assam University Academic staff of Dibrugarh University 2020 deaths Shakespearean scholars Indian men centenarians {{India-academic-bio-stub