The Oxford India Anthology of Modern Urdu Literature: Fiction

Urdu Literature has had a long and colourful history in the Indian Subcontinent. The Oxford India Anthology of Modern Urdu Literature comprehensively and creatively surveys the field from the mid-nineteenth to late twentieth centuries. Covering 100 years of literary production, including about 90 authors and over 130 selections, and many new translations, the twin volumes cover major genres like poetry, drama, and fiction, as well as essays, autobiography and letters. The ‘Poetry and Prose Miscellany’ volume begins with Akbar Ilahabadi (1846-1921), features such celebrated practitioners of the genre as Muhammad Iqbal, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Munibur Rahman, and Akhlaq Muhammad Khan Shahryar among others, and finally, Tanveer Anjum (b. 1956). The prose miscellany–essays and sketches, autobiography, drama, humour and satire, and letters–includes such past masters as Abul Kalam Azad, Shahid Ahmad Dehlvi, Saadat Hasan Manto, and Ismat Chughtai, as well as an interesting selection of anecdotes on well-known literary personages like Ghalib, Mir Insha Ullah Khan Insha, Josh Malihabadi and others–something rarely seen in canonical literature. The ‘Fiction’ volume includes both short stories and extracts from novels and novellas. Beginning with Muhammad Hadi Rusva (1857-1931), it moves on to Premchand, Ghulam Abbas, Krishan Chander, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Intizar Husain, Qurratulain Hyder, Abdulla Hussein, and Naiyer Masud among others, and finally Syed Muhammad Ashraf (b. 1957). While the focus of selection is on literary excellence, translatability, and relevance, an effort has been made to avoid writings easily available in translation and to include one piece per author. Moreover, the continuation between pre and post-Partition Urdu includes authors from both India and Pakistan, thus providing a holistic picture of modern Urdu Literature. The introduction, giving an overview of the development of Urdu literature and placing the writings in their proper historical context, is accompanied by a chronological listing of authors, biographical head-notes to the writings, glossary and bibliography to help readers understand and savour the rich diversity of Urdu Literature. One of the most representative collections of Urdu writings in recent times, The Oxford India Anthology of Modern Urdu Literature is a literary and cultural guide to the Subcontinent. It will appeal equally to general readers, as well as students and scholars of South Asian Literature, especially Urdu Literature in translation.