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Hiren Gohain (born 1939) is a scholar, writer, literary critic, and social scientist from the Indian state of Assam.

Academic life

Gohain studied in Cotton College, and did his graduation from Presidency College, Calcutta and then moved to Delhi University to pursue his post-graduation in English literature. After completion of his master's degree, for some time, he became a lecturer in Kirori Mal College of Delhi University. Later, he went to the Cambridge University for doctoral research on the topic 'Paradise Lost and the 17th Century Crisis' later published as 'Tradition and Paradise Lost: A Heretical View', a work highly acclaimed for its original research and fresh perspective. After coming back from Cambridge, he became a professor at the Department of English in Gauhati University.

As a literary critic

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It was Gohain who for the first time brought the ideas and methods of Anglo-American New Criticism to the study of Assamese/Indian literature in Assamese. While studying in Cambridge, he had an eclectic radical ideology but later on, after his return to India, he became a Marxist. It was he who adapted the ideas of critics like György Lukács, Antonio Gramsci, and other critics into the nascent field of Assamese literary criticism. Some of his books in Assamese are Sahityar Satya, Sahitya Aru Chetana, Biswayatan, Asomiya Jatiya Jibanat Mahapurushiya Paramapara, Assam: A Burning Question and several other significant and widely read books. He has also written 4 volumes of memoirs which are also relevant for their incorporation of social and historical content. He is a contributor to journals such as Economic and Political Weekly, Frontier, and occasional publications of institutions like Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS), Centre for English and Foreign Languages (CIEFL), Shillong. He also is a columnist for various regional and national newspapers.

Other contributions

He is also a regular contributor to Economic and Political Weekly. His book 'Assam A Burning Question' is a compilation of several essays on the socio-political crisis confronting Assam in the context of Assam Movement written in the mid-1980s, and the period dominated by extremism. Recently, he played an important role in the mediation of peace talks between the Government of India and the Assamese insurgent group ULFA. He was the founder president of the Asomiya Sahitya Sanmilani.He is a recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award for his book on Sankardev.

Selected published works & journals

• Tradition & Paradise lost: a heretical view (1997, English)
• Assam, a burning question (1984, English)
• On the present movement in Assam (1980, English)
• Bodo Stir in Perspective
• Nature and art in Shakespeare: an essay on Hamlet (English)
• Sahityar Satya (1970, Assamese)
• Bastabar Swapna (1972, Assamese)
• Kal Bhramar (1974, Assamese)
• Kewal Manuhar Ase Gaan (1970, Assamese)
• Samaj Aru Samalochana (1972, Assamese)
• Sristi Aru Jukti (1972, Assamese)
• Sahitya Aru Chetana (1976, Assamese)
• Kirtan Puthir Roh Bisar (1981, Assamese)
• Tejar Aakhare Likha (1982, Assamese)
• Biswayatan (1983, Assamese)
• Kabitar Bichar Aru Natun Samalochana (1986, Assamese)
• Asamiya Jatiya Jibanat Mahaapurusiya Parampara (1987, Assamese)
• Upanyasar Adhunik Samalochana (Vol. 1 & 2, Assamese)
• Adristwa Aru Asam (1988, Assamese)
• Kalasrot Aru Kandari (1995, Assamese)
• Nature and Art in Shakespeare (1988, English)
• The Magic Plant (1992, English)
• Aspects of Early 19th Century Bengalee Culture (1990, English) 23. Struggling in a time warp (2019, English)
• On Saffronisation of Education

Awards and honors

• Sahitya Akademi Award in 1989

Political and National activism

Gohain has been a voice of Assam as critic of Assamese national extremism, Hindutva extremism and socio-political issues.

Gohain opposed the citizenship (Amendment) Act and equated the exclusion of Muslims from the CAA purview of the as a move similar to that of the pogrom against the Jews by Nazis in Germany during World War II. Gohain has been a strong critic of Narendra Modi.

Gohain participated in an anti-CAA protest organised by the All Assam Journalists Union in front of Guwahati Press Club.

References

1. "Assamese Intellectuals Angry Over 'Injustice' to Gohain". Outlook. 23 February 2010. Archived from the original on 14 June 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2011.Jotwani, Motilal Wadhumal (1979). Contemporary Indian literature and society. New Delhi: Heritage. p. 6. OCLC 5898943.
2. Upadhyay, Akanksha (7 March 2021). "Who is Hiren Gohain, the Sahitya Akademi winner who quit Akhil Gogoi party over AIUDF letter?". India Today. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
3. "EPW Contributors". EPW.
4. Gohain, Hiren (1985). Assam, a burning question. Guwahati, India; Delhi: Spectrum. OCLC 12667631.
5. Das, Bijay Kumar (2007). Critical essays on post-colonial literature. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors. ISBN 978-81-269-0789-2. OCLC 267444360.
6. "ULFA discusses charter of demands for peace talks". The Hindu. 9 May 2011.
7. Gohain, Hiren (1977). Tradition & Paradise Lost : A Heretical View. Lawyer's Book Stall.
8. Gohain, Hiren (1989). "Bodo Stir in Perspective". Economic and Political Weekly. 24 (25): 1377–1379. ISSN 0012-9976. JSTOR 4394984.
9. Gohain, Hiren (2002). "On Saffronisation of Education". Economic and Political Weekly. 37 (46): 4597–4599. ISSN 0012-9976. JSTOR 4412835.
10. "..:: SAHITYA : Akademi Awards ::." Sahitya Akademi. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
11. "Debate: The Real 'Burning Questions' of Assam". The Wire. 14 March 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
12. Aiyar, Swaminathan S. Anklesaria (2020). "Despite Modi, India Has Not Yet Become a Hindu Authoritarian State". Cato Institute – via JSTOR. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

• 1939 births
• Living people
• People from Golaghat
• Assamese-language poets
• Poets from Assam
• 20th-century Indian poets
• Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Assamese