Volume XXXV No. 4 – APRIL 2011

Ranjan Kaul’s debut novel presents a dark view of relationships, institutions and struggles in contemporary India. In fact, the most striking feature of the novel is its current register of the several Indias that exist simultaneously with each other.

Bhagabati Charan Galpamala (Bhagabati Charans Short Stories) is not the first anthology of the short stories of Bhagabati Charan Panigrahi (190843), the founder of Nabajuga Sahitya Samsad (Literary Society of the New Era), the Odia version of the Progressive Writers Movement which had its first convention at Cuttack between 29 November and 6 December 1935.

Bhisham Sahni had once said, The only novel about Partition is Yashpals Jhootha Sach; everything else is merely a footnote. Surprisingly, however, it has taken almost fifty years for its English translation to come out. Jhootha Sach was originally published in Hindi in two volumes in 1958 and 1960.

There is a view supported by, among others, Salman Rushdie and Amit Chaudhuri that Indian Writing in English is superior to literature produced in regional languages. Obviously this opinion fails to take into account the variety, vigour and sincerity that marks writing in various Indian languages. Punjabi fiction being a case in point.

The present volume is a collection of fifteen short stories and two novellas. Ismat Chughtais name should be familiar to anyone who has even a slight interest in Urdu literature and drama. She opened new avenues for women writers in Urdu fiction.

Before getting into the complexities of analysing or assessing this occultly romantic yarn which self-confessedly was inspired by Russian Jewish writer Anskys (also An-sky, a pseudonym for Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport) play The Dybukk dealing with spirits, it is important to take into consideration the psychology of the novelist who through most part of his life struggled (successfully, though) to traverse the potholed path of narrative diversity that is latent between serious and the not-too-serious, the literary and the populist because this is the key to Krishan Chanders oeuvre which is considerable, and his ideology thats inherently contradictory. He has to his credit 20 novels, 30 collections of short stories, countless radio plays, and several travelogues.

Selected Short Stories and Plays portrays an era when Indian society was coming to terms with the idea of independence and democracy. It comprises sixteen short stories and seven plays, each depicting the struggle of the characters within, in the scheme of circumstances being paved for development in the modern age. The book includes an enriched glossary explaining terms that have been left unchanged in the original language.

It was all alone that Id started towards the
goal
People kept pouring in and it swelled into a
caravan.

Anyone possessing even a passing familiarity with the Progressive Writers Movement would know Syed Sajjad ZaheerBannay bhai. Zaheer never attained the dizzying heights of fame and acclaim accorded to say, Faiz but that is probably the way he would have preferred it.

All Passion Spent was launched recently in New Delhi by Zubaan in the author’s presence. The exchange with the author that followed was thought provoking and moving, not least because Zaheda Hina chose to speak in Urdu/ Hindustani in response to questions, after a brief reading from the novel.

The All India Progressive Writers Movement (AIPWM) has been one of most dominant, indigenous, 20th century countrywide movements taking in its sweep most writers of vernacular literature.

Zahida Zaidi was a poet, dramatist, translator and critic whose literary contributions belong to the realms of both Urdu and English literatures. She was a prolific writer passionately concerned with the pulse of the times so one comes across varied political, cultural and social themes in her work. She was innovative too in her use of various literary forms. Sham-e-Tanhai was Zahida.