My Friend, My Enemy

This selection, now available in paperback edition, from Ismat Chughtai’s prose writing comprising essays, commentaries, reminiscences, and pen- portraits of her well-known contemporaries, gives the reader a good idea of the artistic, political and social mores of her times. Ismat Chugtai established herself as a stalwart of Urdu fiction when writing by and about women was both rare and tentative. This volume serves both as a background to her own work and furnishes insights into the art and lives of her contemporaries.  Chugtai’s involvement with the Progressive Writers’ Association and her friendship with writers like Sa’adat Hasan Manto, Patras Bokhari, Krishan Chander, Rajinder Singh Bedi, and others have resulted in a treasure-trove of writing, marked by her characteristic irreverence and wit.