Give a brief Life-Sketch of NISSIM EZEKIEL.

Ans.

NISSIM EZEKIEL (1924-2004)

His Birth and Parentage

Nissim Ezekiel is one of the most prominent Indian poets writing in English. He has attracted adequate critical attention of both Indian and foreign scholars. He was born in the year 1924 in Bombay. He was a Jew by birth. He made India his home. His parents: (Bene-Israel) influenced him very much. His father was the Principal of several colleges in the latter part of his life. He was rational, questioning and had an immaculate taste for proverbs. He inherited from his father love for proverbs and homespun wisdom. His mother was also the Principal.

His Education

He was educated at Antonio D’ Souza High School of Mumbai and Wilson College, and then at Birkbeck College of London. He took his master degree in English literature in 1947. He studied philosophy at Birkbeck College under C. E. M. Joad. When he was an undergraduate he came under the influence of M. N. Roy and was an active member of the Radical Democratic party until 1947.

His Interests and Jobs

Ezekiel had been a man of varied interests. He had been manager of a well-known advertising firm in the fifties, manager of the Chemould, a picture frame manufacturing company for a year. In 1952. he even worked as deck scrubber and coal-carrier on an English cargo ship to earn his passage to home from England.

As a Teacher

He lived in England from 1948 to 1952. He returned to India in 1952 and took up an assignment as an English professor Department Head of the Mithibai College of Arts for some time. He had been working as a Reader of American literature at the Bombay University. He won lasting renown in literature. His profession as a teacher of English literature for a number of years at Bombay University shaped his literary personality.

As an Editor and Death

Other than his teaching assignments, Ezekiel also worked as Director of the Theatre Unit at Bombay. Apart from this, he had been editing several magazines and journals like The Quest, Illustrated Weekly of India. The Indian P.E.N. and Poetry of India. He was also a member of general assembly of Lalit Kala Academy and Sahitya Academy. He had also been a general editor of The Indian Poetry Series and The University Text Book Series. He passed away on January 12, 2004 and left three children behind him.