Bitter Fruit - The Very Best of Saadat Hasan Manto

Bitter Fruit - The Very Best of Saadat Hasan Manto

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Author: Saadat Hasan Manto
Khalid Hasan/
Translator(s)/ Editors(s): Khalid Hasan
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2008/8
Language: English
Pages: 708
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9780143102175

Description

The most widely read and the most translated writer in Urdu, Saadat Hasan Manto constantly challenged the hypocrisy and sham morality of civilized society. Out of this rebellious streak, and fuelled by the burning restlessness of his imagination, he produced a powerful body of work that continues to challenge complacency and demand attention. More than half a century after his death at the age of forty-three in Lahore, he remains anathema to the establishment.

Saadat Hasan Manto wanted to be remembered as the greatest short-story writer ever; as his epitaph would have it, his only competitor is God. Indeed, he is best known for his Partition stories, where he lays bare the absurdity of the religious divide that would forever unhinge the lives of two nations. No other writer has been able to capture the devastation of Partition as Manto has.

But, as this exhaustive anthology shows, Manto’s best work sweeps across genres and states of mind. The short stories shock and seduce; the sketches wring out the sharp brevity of truth; the biographical portraits entice with their candour; the letters to Uncle Sam drip with sarcasm; while the lone play smolders with desire that finds fulfillment in death. Manto also gives us his take on the Bombay film world of his time, a world that both amused and fascinated him and which he recalled with nostalgia in his last years. This collection also carries intimate observations about Manto by his family and friends.

Khalid Hasan’s brilliant translation brings to English Manto’s bite, his lyricism and the authenticity of his voice, making Bitter Fruit the perfect treasury for long-time fans of Manto and first-time readers alike.

MANTO’S PRAYER

Dear God, master of the universe, compassionate and merciful: we who are steeped in sin, kneel in supplication before your throne and beseech you to recall from this world Saadat Hasan Manto, son of Ghulam Hasan Manto, who was a man of great piety.

Take him away, Lord, for he runs away from fragrance and chases after filth. He hates the bright sun, preferring dark labyrinths. He has nothing but contempt for modesty but is fascinated by the naked and the shameless. He hates sweetness, but will give his life to taste bitter fruit. He will not so much as look at housewives but is in seventh heaven in the company of whores. He will not go near running waters, but loves to wade through filth. Where others weep, he laughs; and where others laugh, he weeps. Faces blackened by evil, he loves to wash with tender care to make visible their real features.
He never thinks about you but follows Satan everywhere, the same fallen angel who once disobeyed you.

Contents

Introduction
SHORT STORIES

A Wet Afternoon
Toba Tek Singh
Colder Than Ice
The Assignment
Mozail
The Return
A Believer’s Version
A Woman’s Life
Perin
Odour
Kingdom’s End
Bribing the Almighty
The Seven Magic Flowers
Upstairs Downstairs
A Man of God
The Gift
The Room with the Bright Light
Siraj
An Old-Fashioned Man
The Angel
By the Roadside
The Wild Cactus
It Happened in 1919
The Price of Freedom
The Woman in the Red Raincoat
The Dutiful Daughter
Three Simple Statements
The Dog of Titwal
The Last Salute
The New Constitution
A Tale of 1947
The Great Divide
Free for All
The Girl from Delhi
Bitter Harvest
A Strange Tale
A Question of Honour
Doing God’s Work
Khushia
A Woman for All Seasons
Babu Gopi Nath
Mummy
The Patch
The Supplication
Green Sandals
The Blouse
On the Balcony
Harnam Kaur
The Man Who Liked to Lose
Night Whispers
Sonaral

DRAMA
In This Vortex

SKETCHES
A Sweet Moment
Wages
Cooperation
Division
Proper Use
The Benefits of Ignorance
For Necessary Action
Miracle Man
Jelly
Invitation to Action
Pathanistan
Warning
Permanent Vacation
The Garland
Out of Consideration
Due Supervision
Determination
Modesty
The Fool
Bestiality
Losing Proposition
Ritualistic Difference
Mishtake
Tidiness
God Is Great
Socialism
Double Cross
Testing Time
Luck
Ungrateful Lot
Precautionary Arrangement
Mistake Removed

PORTRAITS
Jinnah Sahib
Bari Alig: The Armchair Revolutionary
Ashok Kumar: the Evergreen Hero
V.H. Desai: Gods Clown
Rafiq Ghaznavi: The Ladies Man
Shyam: Krishna’s Flute
Kuldip Kaur: Too Hot to Handle
Nargis: Narcissus of Undying Bloom
Sitara: Dancing Tigress from Nepal
Nawab Kaashmiri: Actor’s Actor
Neena: The Inscrutable Housewife
Babu Rao Patel: Soft- hearted Iconoclast
Paro Devi: The Girl from Meerut
Nur Jehan: one in a Million
Naseem: The Fairy Queen

LETTERS TO UNCLE SAM
Letters to Uncle Sam

MANTO ON MANTO
To My Readers
A Day in Court
Manto on Manto
Manto’s Epitaph

APPENDIXES
Uncle Manto by Hamid Jalal
Manto Family Conversations
Friends of Manto Reminisce about Him