تہذیبی شعور اور نفسیاتی بصیرت: مغربی نظریات کے تناظر میں اردو تنقید کی تشکیلِ نو

CIVILIZED CONSCIOUSNESS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL INSIGHT: ANALYSIS OF URDU CRITICISM IN THE CONTEXT OF WESTERN IDEAS

Abstract

This research article explores the historical trajectory and theoretical foundations of psychological criticism within Urdu literature, offering a comparative analysis of Western psychological theories and their application by Urdu critics. It begins by examining the fundamental dichotomy between Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis, which emphasizes the individual unconscious, sexual repression (Libido), and the artist’s neurosis, and Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious and archetypes, which connects creativity to ancestral memory and mythology. The study also incorporates the perspectives of Alfred Adler regarding the inferiority complex and social purpose, as well as Jacques Lacan’s structural psychoanalysis and the linguistic nature of the unconscious. In the context of Urdu criticism, the article traces the evolution from the early traces found in the works of Mirza Ruswa and Wahiduddin Salim Pani Pati to the formal establishment of the school by Miraaji and Riaz Ahmed. It highlights Miraaji’s application of Freudian principles to uncover latent motives in poetry and contrasts it with Dr. Wazir Agha’s shift towards a Jungian framework, interpreting Urdu poetry through the lens of civilization, dualism, and cultural archetypes. Furthermore, the contributions of Muhammad Hasan Askari and Salim Ahmed are analyzed in relation to the cultural study of sexuality and the integration of the "whole man." The study concludes that Urdu psychological criticism has evolved from a clinical analysis of the artist’s individual psyche to a profound exploration of collective cultural heritage and structural semantics.