I had been aware of the name of Ismat Chugtai as a well known writer of hindi/urdu fiction, but had not had an occastion to read any of her works. When I found this collection of her short stories, I thought that it might be a good place to start, in the absence of a direct recommendation from someone who is aware of my taste :-)
The collection is titled 'ChiDi Ki Dukki' [The Two of Clubs], which is the first of the five stories in the collection. All the stories are based on marital relationships in middle class Muslim families. There are certain aspects which are typical of Muslim family settings, due to which I found the stories different from the little of hindi/urdu prose I have read so far. The first story had a bit of humour, and all of them projected the ironies of human life. I liked the stories, but did not find them very interesting. I will probably not read it again, but it was a good one-time experience, and I might explore other works of the author.
The collection had a foreward by another famous author, Manto. He starts with a question he had been asked by a few of his fans [why did he not marry Ismat], and devotes quite a space to his imagination of the events this eventuality might have led to. [BTW, both of them were already married when they first met, so this was just a wild question.] I found that rather absurd way to start an introduction, though later when he narrated his interaction with Ismat, thus describing her personality, it became an interesting narrative.
Till sometime back, I used to completely ignore the forewards and prologues of the books I was reading, in order to get to the story. But, of late, I have found an interest in reading these introductions. It gives me the opportunity to get a perspective from another person who is better informed [than I am :-)], and look at the broader context, the life and times of the author/poet whose work I am about to read, and probably enable me to appreciate it better.
The collection is titled 'ChiDi Ki Dukki' [The Two of Clubs], which is the first of the five stories in the collection. All the stories are based on marital relationships in middle class Muslim families. There are certain aspects which are typical of Muslim family settings, due to which I found the stories different from the little of hindi/urdu prose I have read so far. The first story had a bit of humour, and all of them projected the ironies of human life. I liked the stories, but did not find them very interesting. I will probably not read it again, but it was a good one-time experience, and I might explore other works of the author.
The collection had a foreward by another famous author, Manto. He starts with a question he had been asked by a few of his fans [why did he not marry Ismat], and devotes quite a space to his imagination of the events this eventuality might have led to. [BTW, both of them were already married when they first met, so this was just a wild question.] I found that rather absurd way to start an introduction, though later when he narrated his interaction with Ismat, thus describing her personality, it became an interesting narrative.
Till sometime back, I used to completely ignore the forewards and prologues of the books I was reading, in order to get to the story. But, of late, I have found an interest in reading these introductions. It gives me the opportunity to get a perspective from another person who is better informed [than I am :-)], and look at the broader context, the life and times of the author/poet whose work I am about to read, and probably enable me to appreciate it better.
9 comments:
Ismat Chugtai is also a name I have heard but never read. May be the reason why you probably didn't love the book is that short stories(for me, atleast)need very special skills. Besides, she could have written in early in her career!
Great point about foreward/Prefaces/Introduction. Javed Akhtar's 'Tarquash' has a lovely one from the poet himself!
@LeziB: An alternative answer is that the tastes of individuals differ. :-)
So though I liked them fairly, I didn't exaclty love them, someone else might have :-) Btw, I dont think these were some of early works.
Ya, 'Tarqash' had a nice one .... it was a short autobiography, and I liked the conversational tones of it.
Ismat Aapa is one of my fav author...I love her bold style of writing...may be you need to give sometime....to let those words grow on you....! Was it the language which you found bit too harsh....! I have been told that they didn't expect a woman to write in that manner....!!
Infact I recall the foreward by Manto....do you recall where he muses aloud to his wife that even "Ismat bhi aur auratoin ki tarah nikali...!"
Would love to see your review of stories - if you get to do it sometime !!
Tk care ~
i like reading prologues, they give me a gist of the story and most cases i immediately figure out if tht book is for me or not
@BTR: Perhaps you are right ... I need to give it time (or explore other works by her) to let it grow on me. I remember the part you quoted, but in this case I did not find the language too harsh - these stories had quite a different flavor.
Sorry, but I dont find myself capable to review the stories - that reuires rather detailed analysis, which is something I find daunting, and right now I do not have so much of leisure time either.
@Maverick: Hmmmm .... but I think usually the prefaces say more about the author and about his/her times in general, rather than about the story you are about to read.
waise, i do read forwards and bhumikas and anything preceding the text, especially if written by the author...
@Adi: Well, we know you are a literary intellectual :-)
I too look at the epilogue and the prologue first and the short descriptions at the back of the book before buying it, which does give a brief hint about the nature of the story!
@Kalyan: I never read the epilogues. They take the fun out of reading the story :-)
But I look at the description at the back to decide if I want to buy the book. Sometimes I even read a few pages standing in the bookshop :-)
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