Written over the last decade, this collection of essays by Urdu's foremost critic documents his various research interests. It begins with the station of critic in literature and its development, discusses the beginnings and the development of the Urdu short story in the twentieth century and documents the literary preoccupations of Urdu classical poets and later authors and social activists. Commenting on the role of literary writing in the post-colonial times, the author looks at and questions the many established notions about the historical development of the Urdu language, and outlines the role of contemporary scholars in fashioning the Urdu-Hindi debate.