Author: Intizar Husain
Translator(s): Rakhshanda Jalil
Publisher: Rupa
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 134
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8129105772
Description
The stories in this collection are drawn from the rich oral narrative tradition of the Indian subcontinent, on sources as diverse as the Katha Sagar, puranic lore, sufi legends, Jataka tales, kissa-kahani and dastan, as well as Intizar Husain’s own training and experience as a veteran newspaper man.
In story after story he seeks to retrieve the past, to see it better, to understand it, maybe even learn from it. Taken together, they cover a gamut of emotions-nostalgia for a world left behind in India, angst for the amputated other abandoned in the former East Pakistan, concern over the two emerging nuclear powers, a cathartic repurging of his own Shia Muslim legacy and much more.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
RAKHSHANDA JALIL is a freelance writer, book-editor and translator. She runs a small organization called Hindustani Awaaz whose intention is to popularize and position Hindi and Urdu literature. She is Visiting Fellow at the Academy of Third World Studies.
Contents
TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION
Circle
Captive
Needlessly
Cloud
Jabala’s Son
Reserved Seat
Sleep
Those Who Are Lost
Between Me and the Story
The Death of Sheherzad
Fate and Dream
Glossary