Love Sonnets of Ghalib is the first English language book in the 200-year history of Ghalib ‘s poetry that comprises a complete work wherein all of Ghalib ‘s 235 Urdu Ghazals have been translated, transliterated, explicated and their study supported by an extensive lexicon and glossary of terms. The introduction to the book is written by Dr. Farman Fatehpuri, one the best known and acknowledged authors of the Urdu language and a critic of Ghalib ‘s work in the world.Love Sonnets of Ghalib also includes comprehensive chapters on the history of Urdu language, the Urdu p’oetry, and the Urdu Ghazal. A primer to Ghalib ‘s poetry includes an introduction to his life and works particular to his unique style of writing, higl).lighting the difficulties in Love Sonnets of Ghalib .Thirteen of the classical art works of Sadequain, perhaps the most popular artist of the last century in Pakistan, have been used to illustrate Ghalib ‘s poetry. These artistic renditions beautifully depict the complex themes and aura of these timeless verses.Love Sonnets of Ghalib has been written after extensive research on most available works on Ghalib ‘s poetry and after intensive consultations with numerous Englishspeaking scholars of Urdu around the world. It has taken several years to complete this work.Love, Sonnets of Ghalib is a scholarly work on Ghalib that takes a straightforward approach to bringing one of the most widely read books in the Urdu literature, Diwane-Ghalib , to the understanding reach of the public.The construction of the book allows the reader to enjoy the verses, both in Urdu and its Romanized transliteration side by side. The Romanized transliteration marks for the first time the availability of Ghalib ‘s Ghazal Divan in Romanized transliteration for the readers who cannot read the Urdu script.The book contains an exte~sive glossary of the vocabulary used in Ghalib ‘s Urdu Ghazals. This includes difficult words, the compound words created by Ghalib as well as themes repeated often in Ghalib ‘s Ghazals.An index of the first verse of each ghazal with page number has been made for the reader to easily locate the ghazal of choice.Dr. Sarfaraz Khan Niazi has been teaching for over 30 years around the world and has published several books, texts and hundreds of articles on scientific, philosophical and literary topics. He is the eldest son of Allama Niaz Fatehpuri, a known scholar of Urdu language. Sarfaraz K. Niazi lives in the US.Sadequain (1930-1987)“Sadequain was a poet among painters and a painter among writers; a highly successful blend of literature, arts and philosophy.”Sadequain was a giant among the contemporary artists of his time; a genius who became a legend in the world of art in his own lifetime. The most prolific artist of Pakistan, he was wholly self taught and had attended no art school.Sadequain painted Ghalib ‘s verses in bold form (196.8). His interpretations of the verses of Ghalib in oil, using thick black lines and strong contrasts of light and dark show vigour and drama respectively. The sparing use of color mostly red, heightens the effect of the themes of the verses which is mostly tragic. With each illustration the relevant verse has been written in Urdu calligraphy – an innovation never attempted before. This gave him the idea to use his talent in calligraphy to write and paint the verses of the Quran which made him one of the greatest calligraphers of his time. Thirteen of Sadequain’s paintings have been used in this book.
