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{{Short description|Scholar, literary critic, poet and social scientist}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Hiren Gohain
| image =
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| pseudonym =
| birth_name = Hiren Gohain
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1939}}
| birth_place = [[Golaghat]], [[Assam]], India
| death_date = 
| death_place =
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| occupation = Scholar, literary critic, social scientist
| language = [[Assamese language|Assamese]]
| nationality = [[India]]
| citizenship = Indian
| education =
| alma_mater = [[University of Cambridge]]<br>[[Cotton University]]<br>[[Presidency College, Kolkata|Presidency College]]<br>[[Delhi University]]
| period =
| genre =
| subject = English
| movement =
| notableworks =
| spouse = Rani Gohain
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| awards = Sahitya Academy
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'''Hiren Gohain''' (born 1939) is a scholar, writer, literary critic, and social scientist from the Indian state of [[Assam]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Assamese Intellectuals Angry Over 'Injustice' to Gohain |url=http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=675108 |work=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]] |date=23 February 2010 |access-date=1 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614062653/http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=675108 |archive-date=14 June 2012 |url-status=dead }}{{cite book |title=Contemporary Indian literature and society |last=Jotwani |first=Motilal Wadhumal |page=6 |year=1979 |publisher=Heritage |location=New Delhi |oclc=5898943 }}</ref>

== Academic life ==
Gohain studied in [[Cotton College, Guwahati|Cotton College]], and did his graduation from [[Presidency College, Kolkata|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 [[University of Cambridge|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]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Upadhyay |first1=Akanksha |title=Who is Hiren Gohain, the Sahitya Akademi winner who quit Akhil Gogoi party over AIUDF letter? |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/story/who-is-hiren-gohain-the-sahitya-akademi-winner-who-quit-akhil-gogoi-party-over-aiudf-letter-1776579-2021-03-07 |access-date=31 March 2022 |publisher=[[India Today]] |date=7 March 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

==Contributions as a literary critic==
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]].<ref>{{cite news |title=EPW Contributors |url=http://www.epw.in/authors/hiren-gohain |work=[[Economic and Political Weekly|EPW]]}}</ref> His book 'Assam A Burning Question'<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gohain |first=Hiren |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/assam-a-burning-question/oclc/12667631 |title=Assam, a burning question |date=1985 |publisher=Spectrum |location=Guwahati, India; Delhi |language=English |oclc=12667631}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Das |first=Bijay Kumar |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/267444360 |title=Critical essays on post-colonial literature |date=2007 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers and Distributors |isbn=978-81-269-0789-2 |location=New Delhi |oclc=267444360}}</ref> Recently, he played an important role in the mediation of peace talks between the Government of India and the Assamese insurgent group [[ULFA]].<ref>{{cite news |title=ULFA discusses charter of demands for peace talks. |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/ulfa-discusses-charter-of-demands-for-peace-talks/article2003589.ece|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]| date=9 May 2011}}</ref> He was the founder president of the Asomiya Sahitya Sanmilani.He is a recipient of Sahitya Aademy award for his book on Sankardev.

==Selected published works & journals==
* Tradition & Paradise lost: a heretical view (1997, English)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gohain |first=Hiren |title=Tradition & Paradise Lost : A Heretical View |publisher=Lawyer's Book Stall |year=1977}}</ref>
* Assam, a burning question (1984, English)
* On the present movement in Assam (1980, English)
* Bodo Stir in Perspective<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gohain |first=Hiren |date=1989 |title=Bodo Stir in Perspective |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4394984 |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=24 |issue=25 |pages=1377–1379 |jstor=4394984 |issn=0012-9976}}</ref>
* 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<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gohain |first=Hiren |date=2002 |title=On Saffronisation of Education |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4412835 |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=37 |issue=46 |pages=4597–4599 |jstor=4412835 |issn=0012-9976}}</ref>

== Awards and honors ==
* [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] in 1989<ref>{{Cite web |title=..:: SAHITYA : Akademi Awards ::.. |url=https://sahitya-akademi.gov.in/awards/akademi%20samman_suchi.jsp |url-status=live |access-date=2022-03-31 |website=Sahitya Akademi}}</ref>

==Political and National activism==
Gohain has been a voice of Assam as critic of Assamese national extremism, Hindutva extremism and socio-political issues.<ref>{{cite news |title=Debate: The Real 'Burning Questions' of Assam |url=https://thewire.in/rights/debate-the-real-burning-questions-of-assam |access-date=1 April 2022 |publisher=[[The Wire (India)|The Wire]] |date=14 March 2019}}</ref>

Gohain opposed the [[citizenship (Amendment) Act]] and equated the exclusion of Muslims from the [[Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019|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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aiyar |first=Swaminathan S. Anklesaria |date=2020 |title=Despite Modi, India Has Not Yet Become a Hindu Authoritarian State |publisher=Cato Institute |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep28731 |via=JSTOR}}</ref>

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

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gohain, Hiren}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Golaghat]]
[[Category:Assamese-language poets]]
[[Category:Poets from Assam]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian poets]]

Hiren Gohain - Revision history

UpdateBot at 20:18, 29 June 2022