Author: Intizar Husain
Alok Bhalla/Vishwamitter Adil
Translator(s): Alok Bhalla / Vishwamitter Adil
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 257
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0195671740
Description
The fifteen stories in this volume are all characterized by Intizar Husain's unique understanding of Muslim identity in the Indian subcontinent. Husain draws freely and imaginatively upon the rich narrative traditions of Hindu and Buddhist mythologies to reflect upon religious faith and identity, historical truth and moral delusions, power and the endless failure of reason.
The introduction offers a comprehensive analysis of Husain's craft and emphasizes the strong historical awareness that underpins a genius who, although shadowed by violent experiences, has not been overcome by them. Also included is an interview with the writer, which provides fresh insights into his life and the historic events that produced his work. This collection promises to be of much interest to the general reader of Urdu literature and literary culture and Indian fiction in translation.
REVIEWS
Intizar Husain's stories often tread that twilight zone between fable and parable. And the narrative is spun on an oriental loom-reminiscent of A Thousand and One Nights or the Jataka tales, each story becoming an offshoot of the previous one and an embryo of he next tale. And his command over the narrative lies in the fact that never once does the reader feel let down.
-Keki N Daruwalla, The Hindu
Intizar Husain has been fortunate in finding a diligent and sensitive translator in Alok Bhalla (along with the late Vishwamitter Adil).
-Alok Rai, The Book Review
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INTRODUCTION
An Unwritten Epic
Complete Knowledge
The City of Sorrows
A Letter from India
Tortoise
The Boat
The One-Eyed Dajjal
The Story of the Parrot and the Mynah
Leaves
Platform
Barium Carbonate
Hisaar
The Staircase
The Jungle of the Gonds
A Chronicle of the Peacocks
Partition, Exile and Memories of a Lost Home: An Interview with Intizar Husain by Alok Bhalla
Glossary