| Author: |
Abdullah Hussein |
| Publisher: |
Sang- e -Meel |
Available for delivery within US & Canada only.
Description:
"Narrated in a deceptively quiet, level style, this powerful, subtle novel is packed with explosions of violence, from the First World War through riots, strikes and police or military brutality, to the religious mayhem of partition in 1947. But the real subject of the novel is the universal isolation and helplessness of ordinary people, and what makes the novel as fresh today as it must have been 36 years ago is the complex intransigence of its protagonist...."
John Spurling in 'The Sunday Times', London.
"It is a powerful, enthralling and informative novel. But what makes it especially fascination is that, unlike Rushdie, for instance, whose approach to Indian history is artificial, fabulous and distancing, Abdullah Hussein takes us right into the middle of it and makes us feel what it was like to be there..."
Peter Kemp on 'Front Row', BBC Radio 4.
"It is an ambitious saga, well worth reading, with vivid descriptions of trench warfare on the western Front a seen from the unfamiliar perspective of an Indian 'Tommy'. The central couple's marital discord symbolizes the contradictions, disillusionment and cynicism underlying the Indian subcontinent's fight for freedom..."
Andrew Robinson in 'The Times', London.
"Abdullah Hussein is a wonderful storyteller. Long before anybody ever heard of Salman Rushdie or 'The Midnight's Children', Abdullah Hussein's saga of social struggle was published in Urdu and became a best seller throughout the subcontinent. It is now made accessible to the English readers by the author's own translation. The moods and mores of that time are excellently conveyed through the characters, gripped by the currents of various intellectuals and political movements, infected by the idea of resisting their oppressors. Alas, this novel is a grim reminder of the fact that little has changed in the Indian subcontinent. Tyranny continues to prevail and Naim's struggle is repeated generation after generation by the weary inheritors of British India's troubled legacy..." Umber Khairi in 'Literary Review', London.
Review:
The Weary Generations, a bestseller in the Indian Subcontinent since publication in the 1960s, appears here in English for the first time, translated by the author from the original Urdu. This classical novel was the first to depict in fiction the struggle of the people of India against the British Raj.
Naim, the son of a peasant farmer, loses an arm fighting for the British During the First World War and is decorated for his bravery. But his faith in the Raj Has been shattered and on his return to his village in northern India he joins the newly formed Congress Party and later the Muslim League, eventually being incarcerated for his political activities. He marries Azra, daughter of a wealthy landowner, but the marriage of this couple from very different social backgrounds proves impossible to sustain, thus mirroring the union between the British Empire and its Indian subjects. Finally, Naim's hopes for a united India are swept away after independence in 1947 when his Muslim family is forced to migrate to newly created Pakistan.
The author vividly depicts the widespread disillusionment that set in at the time of Partition, as Naim's youthful idealism and hopes for social harmony and personal happiness are destroyed, unable to withstand the seismic upheavals experienced by his family and his country.
This book, a translation of ‘Udas Naslein’, which earned the author the prestigious ‘Adamji Prize’, once again deserves an award for sustaining the fluency and intensity found in the Urdu version.
| DesiStore # |
PBH00909 |
| ISBN |
969-35-0981-1 |
| Edition: |
First |
| Year: |
1999 |
| Pages |
334 |
| Dimensions: |
22x14x2 |
| Weight (kg) |
0.54 |
| Weight (lbs) |
1.36 |
| HB/PB |
Hard Back |
|
The Weary Generations
|
