Person

Cowasjee, Saros

Full name: Saros Dara Cowasjee. His parents were Dara (father) and Meher (mother) Cowasjee. He has one sister, Sabar, and one brother, Shyam. Place of residence: Saros Cowasjee was born July 12, 1931 in Secundrabad, India. He lived in India until he went to England in 1957 to work on his Ph.D. He remained in England until 1960, then travelled to Bombay to be Assistant Editor at the Times of India Press. In 1963 he came to Regina, Saskatchewan, to assume the post of Instructor of English at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus, the forerunner of the University of Regina. Education: He was educated at St. John's College, Agra, India, where he completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1951. He received his Master of Arts degree in 1955 from Agra College, India, then completed a Ph.D. in 1960 from the University of Leeds in England on Sean O'Casey, under the supervision of the renowned Shakespearean scholar, G. Wilson Knight. Occupation, life, and activities: After a brief stint with the Times of India Press from 1960 to 1963, Cowasjee was appointed Instructor of English at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus. He attained the title of full professor in 1971. He retired and was appointed Professor Emeritus in 1995. Cowasjee was also Research Associate, University of California, Berkeley in 1970-71, Visiting Commonwealth Professor, University of Aarhus, Denmark, from January to June 1975, and has been a guest lecturer at a number of universities in Europe, Australia, North America, India, Fiji, and Singapore. In addition to his teaching, Cowasjee has been a prolific writer. He is the author of five works of criticism: 'Sean O'Casey: The Man Behind the Plays' (1963), 'O'Casey' (1966), 'Coolie: An Assessment' (1976), 'So Many Freedoms: A Study of the Major Fiction of Mulk Raj Anand' (1977), and 'Studies in Indian and Anglo-Indian Fiction' (1993). He has written three novels: 'Goodbye to Elsa' (1974), 'Suffer Little Children' (1982), and 'The Assistant Professor' (1996); two books of short stories, 'Stories and Sketches' (1970), and 'Nude Therapy' (1978); and a screenplay, 'The Last of the Maharajas' (1980). He has edited and written introductions for numerous works, among them being three anthologies on writers from the Raj period of India (published as a series by Harper Collins): 'Stories from the Raj' (1982), 'More Stories from the Raj and After' (1986), and 'Women Writers of the Raj: Short Fiction' (1990). His other Harper Collins publications include his critical introductions to Christine Weston's 'Indigo' (1993) and Sir George Otto Trevelyan's 'The Competition Wallah'. There is also 'The Best Short Stories of Flora Annie Steel' (1995), selected and edited by him, with his introduction dealing with the author's life and works. Equally important is Cowasjee's work as General Editor of Arnold Heinemann's 'Literature of the Raj' series, beginning in 1984. In the nine out-of-print fiction works published under Cowasjee's editorship, he wrote introductions to the reprints of 'Durbar' (1987), Indigo (1987), 'Siri Ram - Revolutionist' (1988), and 'Hindoo Holiday' (first published through Cowasjee's efforts in India in 1979, but later was included in this series). In addition, Cowasjee has edited and/or written introductions to other works, has contributed to various publications, and written numerous articles.