A Thousand Yearnings: A Book Of Urdu Poetry And Prose

For many people | Urdu is indelibly associated with a bygone era: the cultural renaissance of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the face of colonial oppression | heady mushairas and romantic poetry. For others | it brings to mind the gritty prose of the Progressive Writers portraying the grim social realities of the mid-twentieth century.In this luminous collection of Urdu poetry and prose | Ralph Russell expands our world of Urdu letters to include folk and oral narratives | besides prose and poetry. By situating each form historically | he gives us a refreshing perspective on the diverse literary cultures and histories of India.Besides canonical short stories by the likes of Manto and Premchand | there isIsmat Chughtai’s a little-known autobiographical essay about her relationship with her brother | the writer Azim Beg Chughtai. There are creation tales from the Quran | popular stories of Akbar and Birbal | along with the legendary exploits of Sikandar (Alexander the Great). Selections from the sublime poetry of Mir |Ghalib and others are supplemented by astute commentary and roman transcriptions of the original Urdu. Farhatullah Beg’s brilliantly imagined account of the ‘last Delhi mushaira’ captures a moment in time never seen again | with the horrors of 1857 just around the corner.An accessible introduction for unfamiliar readers and a pleasurable companion for those familiar with Urdu literature | this volume is a treasure trove of stories | poetry and history. Originally published as Hidden in the Lute (1995) |this revised edition has been edited by Russell’s student and friend for several years | the novelist Marion Molteno.