ANAND, Mulk Raj 1905-2004

OBITUARY NOTICE— See index for CA sketch: Born December 12, 1905, in Peshawar, India (now part of Pakistan); died of pneumonia September 28, 2004, in Pune, India. Author. Anand was a prominent, prize-winning author of English-language novels and short stories that often criticized his native Indian society, including his well-known 1935 fiction debut, Untouchable. Beginning his education in India, where he received a B.A. from the University of Punjab in 1924, he immigrated to England and completed his Ph.D. at University College, London in 1929. During his early years, Anand wrote nonfiction works about history and art, while making friendships and acquaintances with numerous authors, including Aldous Huxley, E. M. Forster, Clive Bell, H. G. Wells, D. H. Lawrence, W. B. Yeats, and George Orwell, the last of whom he worked with at the British Broadcasting Corporation during World War II. His first novel, Untouchable, was a literary breakthrough in that it was the first fictional work in English that addressed the issues of the lower classes in India. Other works with social themes soon followed, such as Coolie. (1936) and The Big Heart (1945). By the 1940s, Anand also found work as a lecturer and professor, teaching at a variety of Indian universities, including the University of Punjab, where he was a professor of fine arts from 1963 to 1966; he was also notable as the founding editor of MARG, a literary quarterly journal that offered insights into Indian culture. Beginning in 1951, Anand also began a series of autobiographical novels, "The Seven Ages of Man," which includes Seven Summers: The Story of an Indian Childhood (1951), Morning Face (1968), Confession of a Lover (1984), and The Bubble (1984). He was still working on the last three novels of this series at the time of his death. A prolific author who received the International Peace Price from the World Council of Peace in 1952 and the Padma Bhusan Award from the president of India in 1968, Anand completed dozens of nonfiction books, novels, short story collections, and edited works in his lifetime.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, October 2, 2004, Section 2, p. 10.

Independent (London, England), September 29, 2004, p. 32.

Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2004, p. B8.

New York Times, September 30, 2004, p. C14.

Times (London, England), September 30, p. 65.

Washington Post, October 3, 2004, p. C10.