A Letter from India: Contemporary Short Stories from Pakistan

A Letter from India brings together the best short fiction by some of the most important voices of Pakistani literature. Refreshing in their style and diverse in their themes, these stories—in English, and translated from Urdu and Punjabi—reflect a move away from nationalism and parochialism as they examine issues of identity, sexuality, individual freedom and interpersonal relationships. If Intizar Husain’s ‘A Letter from India’ presents us with an insight into the psyche of a family torn apart by Partition (and the consequent loss of a family tree), in Asad Mohammad Khan’s ‘The Squatter’ we discover pure and simple human love that doesn’t lend legitimacy to religious barriers. In Nadir Ali’s ‘Feeqa’s Death’ the protagonist’s dream becomes a device to reflect on sudden tragedies wrought upon a community by outside forces, while Zubair’s ‘The Door Is Open’ manipulates dreams to deconstruct personal fear and family tyranny. Sorayya Khan’s and Azra Waqar’s stories speak of the lingering pain and guilt that seep into individual lives from national tragedies left unquestioned and unexplored. And while ‘Spots’ humanizes social outcasts, Ashu Lal’s ‘Mangoes in the Time of Winter’ critiques the decadence of exclusive sub-cultures.