Author: Rahi Masoom Reza
Translator(s): Gillian Wright
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 332
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9780143063667
Description
A masterpiece of Hindi literature in an acclaimed translation. Previously published as The Feuding Families of Village Gangauli, this novel is full of passion and vibrancy, a powerful record of the meeting of Muslim and Hindu cultural traditions that bound Indian society together.
Rahi Masoom Reza’s honest and controversial novel unfolds during the latter years of the Raj and the first decade of Independence and portrays the rival halves of a zamindar family, their loves, fights and litigations. It attacks the creation of Pakistan and explores the abolition of the zamindari system and its impact at the village level.
A semi-autobiographical work set in the author’s village of Gangauli, in Ghazipur district on the fringes of Avadh, A Village Divided, previously published as The Feuding Families of Village Gangauli, is full of passion and vibrancy, a powerful record of the meeting of Muslim and Hindu cultural traditions that bound Indian society together.
REVIEWS
The portrayal of Partition and the trauma involved in it has been very convincing… Ms Wright has done justice to the translation of the book.
-Hindustan Times
This novel can be indisputably cited as a brilliant tour de force in what a Third World narrative is or should be.
-Tribune
Gillian Wright’s translations…are singular contributions, providing larger audiences to masterpieces that would otherwise have remained confined.
-Indian Express
Contents
Translator’s Acknowledgements
Translator’s Introduction
Some People of Ganguali
The Dozing Town
My Village, My People
The Source
The Miyans
Warp and Weft
Salt
The Tale
Thirst
Introduction
Loneliness
New and Old Lines
Glossary