Since its publication in 1989 Makan has come to be considered as one of the greatest novels in contemporary Urdu fiction and has determined the trend of Urdu novel by influencing the form and philosophies of novels written thereafter. It is marked as a return of story telling in fiction with absolute renunciation of plot construction. Life and this novel become one and the same: breathing at the same levels of despair and ecstasy written in the background of mafia dominated structure of modern India. The novel, however, roars through this jungle of lawlessness and terror with a powerful and far reaching voice of vision of the writer who has whistled afresh the eternal spirit of man’s greatness through the character of a woman who emerges as a prophet of aggressive creativity amidst the wrecks of the old structure of society. Written in the background of the labyrinth of the cosmopolitan city, no other book depicts Delhi’s dark alleys so vividly. The novel is secretly considered by the readers of Urdu as one of the finest in the global literature and a very revolutionary piece of art. The translator V.K. Joshi is a poet and is author of ‘A Phoenix Again’ (Novel) which is a fine example of serious fiction. The translator took up the translation purely due to his infatuation with the book and has taken nine years to absorb the extremely strange style of the novel before he finally translated it.
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