Falling Walls

A young man from Jalandhar longs to become a writer but fails at every turn. Upendranath Ashks 1947 novel explores in great detail the trials and tribulations of Chetan. From the back galis of Lahore and Jalandhar to Shimlas Scandal Point Falling Walls offers a rich and intimate portrait of lower-middle-class life in the 1930s and the hurdles an aspiring writer must overcome to fulfil his ambitions.About the AuthorUpendranath Ashk 1910-1996 was one of Hindi literatures best known and most controversial authors. Ashk was born in Jalandhar and spent the early part of his writing career as an Urdu author in Lahore. Encouraged by Premchand he switched to Hindi and a few years before Partition moved to Bombay Delhi and finally Allahabad in 1948 where he spent the rest of his life. By the time of his death Ashks phenomenally large oeuvre spanned over a hundred volumes of fiction poetry memoir criticism and translation. Ashk is perhaps best known for his six-volume novel cycle Girti Divarein or Falling walls---an intensely detailed chronicle of the travails of a young Punjabi man attempting to become a writer--which has earned the author comparisons to Marcel Proust. Ashk was the recipient of numerous prizes and awards during his lifetime for his masterful portrayal by turns humorous and remarkably profound of the everyday lives of ordinary people.