Saros Dara Cowasjee (12 July 1931 – 8 December 2019) was an Indian-born Canadian novelist, short story writer, commentator, critic, anthologist, and screenwriter, as well as a professor emeritus at

University of Regina The University of Regina is a public university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchewan as a j ...

Early life and education

Cowasjee was born in

Secunderabad Secunderabad () is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of the South ...

, India on 12 July 1931, to Dara and Meher Cowasjee. He had a sister and a brother. He earned a B.A. from

St. John's College, Agra St. John's College is a constituent college of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University, located in Agra. It is a Christian college under the Church of North India. It was established by the Church Mission Society to Agra. The college admits both under ...

in 1951. He completed a M.A. from

Agra College Agra College is an government aided college, which is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in India. Pandit Gangadhar Shastri, a noted Sanskrit scholar, founded the college in 1823, long before the first university in India was e ...

in 1955. In 1960, Cowasjee completed a Ph.D. from

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

. He researched

Seán O'Casey Seán O'Casey ( ; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes. Early life O'Casey was ...

under the supervision of

G. Wilson Knight George Richard Wilson Knight (1897–1985) was an English literary critic and academic, known particularly for his interpretation of mythic content in literature, and ''The Wheel of Fire'', a collection of essays on Shakespeare's plays. He was a ...

Career

Cowasjee was an editor for two years with the Times of India Press in Bombay (now renamed

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

). In 1963, he joined the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus as an instructor of English. In 1971, he became a full-time professor. Upon retirement in 1995, Cowasjee became professor emeritus. Cowasjee said "…I am a Canadian citizen, though my I sell much better in the U.K. and India than I do in Canada…. Perhaps my work lacks Canadian content and sensibility. Also, to be noticed in Canada one has to be an aggressive salesman, as aggressive as a Jehovah's Witness, and as prepared to take insults and get the door shut in one's face."O. P. Mathur. ''The Modern Indian English Fiction''. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1993, p.204.

Personal life and death

Cowasjee was

Parsi The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, w ...

, a

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster ( ). Among the wo ...

community in India. He emigrated to Canada in 1963 and was a Canadian citizen. Cowasjee resided in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina ( ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 Canadian census, ...

. He died on 8 December 2019, at the age of 88.

Selected works

As author

*''Sean O'Casey, the Man Behind the Plays'' (1963); *''O'Casey'' (1966); *''Stories and Sketches'' (1970); *''Goodbye to Elsa'' (1974); *''Mulk Raj Anand: Coolie : an assessment'' (1976); *''Nude therapy'' (1978); *''So Many Freedoms: A Study of the Major Fiction of Mulk-Raj Anand'' (1978); *''The last of the maharajas: A screen play based on Mulk Raj Anand's Private life of an Indian Prince'' (1980); *''Suffer little children'' (1982); *''Studies in Indian and Anglo-Indian Fiction'' (1993); *''The Assistant Professor'' (1996).

As editor

*''Author to Critic: The Letters of Mulk Raj Anand to Saros Cowasjee'' (1973); *''Modern Indian Short Stories'' (1982); *''Stories from the Raj'' (1983); *''More Stories from the Raj and After'' (1986); *''Indigo'' by Christine Weston (1987, 1993); *''The Wild Sweet Witch'' by

Philip Mason Philip Mason, (19 March 1906 – 25 January 1999), was a British civil servant in India and writer. After a career in the Indian Civil Service which was cut short by Indian independence, he returned to England to take up farming and writing, l ...

(1989); *''Women Writers of the Raj: Short Fiction'' (1990); *''Four Raj Novels'' (Omnibus) (1994); *''Orphans of the Storm: Stories on the Partition of India'' (1995); *''The Best Short Stories of Flora Annie Steel'' by

Flora Annie Steel Flora Annie Steel (2 April 1847 – 12 April 1929) was a writer who lived in British India for 22 years. She was noted especially for books set in the Indian subcontinent or connected with it. Her novel '' On the Face of the Waters'' (1896) desc ...

(1995); *''The Oxford Anthology of Raj Stories'' (1999).

Introductions

*''Private Life of an Indian Prince'' by

Mulk Raj Anand Mulk Raj Anand (12 December 1905 – 28 September 2004) was an Indian writer in the English language, recognised for his depiction of the lives of the poorer class in the traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, ...

(1970); *''The Trilogy'' comprising ''The Village'', ''Across the Black Waters'' and ''The Sword and the Sickle'' by Mulk Raj Anand (2016).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowasjee, Saros 1931 births 2019 deaths Screenwriters from Hyderabad, India Parsi writers Indian male novelists Indian male screenwriters Indian male short story writers 20th-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian short story writers Novelists from Andhra Pradesh 20th-century Indian male writers Indian emigrants to Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian short story writers Canadian male short story writers Canadian male novelists Canadian male screenwriters 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian short story writers Canadian people of Parsi descent People from Secunderabad Writers from Regina, Saskatchewan Academic staff of the University of Regina Indian expatriate academics Alumni of the University of Leeds Canadian anthologists Screenwriters from Saskatchewan Novelists from Saskatchewan