Former University of Hyderabad (UoH) professor Subrahmanyam Viswanathan passed away at the age of 91 in Chennai on Wednesday. He is survived by his daughter Gomathi; his wife Nirmala Viswanathan had predeceased him.
Beginning his academic career at 20 in Madura College in the present-day Tamil Nadu, Mr. Viswanathan carved a niche for himself as an English teacher before going on to teach at Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati. But it was at the UoH, where he joined within two years of its formation in 1977, that he led legions of students to fall in love with the works of English playwright William Shakespeare. He also published scholarly papers on Shakespeare in numerous journals.
“Professor Viswanathan mentored me. At a time when I faced discrimination and hate, he protected me in the department of English. He took me under his wing,” said Hoshang Merchant, who was Mr. Viswanathan’s colleague.
“I feel privileged that I was taught Shakespeare by him. Ours was the last batch he taught (1995-97). Among the plays he taught us, Tempest was the one that stayed with me because of Professor Vishwanathan’s postcolonial reading of the play and his focus on Caliban. He was very patient and gentle with beginners like me and calmly pointed us to aspects that we overlooked in our reading,” said Usha Mudiganti, who now teaches English Literature at Ambedkar University, Delhi. He would lean back on the chair with half closed eyes as he spoke about the literary aspects of Tempest, remembers another student about his classes.
“Professor Viswanathan would be remembered for his eminent scholarship, rare collegiality and goodwill towards all. He was an English professor in the classical sense, whose legacy would be hard to match,” wrote Sachidananda Mohanty, who also taught in the English department of the UoH.
