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Original Essays | October 18, 2009

Victoria Hislop: IMG From Leprosy to Lorca — Strange Inspiration



My first novel, The Island, was inspired by a chance visit to a tiny island leper colony off the coast of Greece on our summer holiday. It was a... Continue »
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25 Remote Warehouse Literature- A to Z

River of Fire

by Qurratulain Hyder

River of Fire Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Now available as a paperback, the most important novel of twentieth-century Urdu fiction. Now available as a New Directions Paperbook, Qurratulain Hyder's River of Fire makes a bid to be recognized in the West as what it has long been acknowledged in the East: the most important novel of twentieth-century Urdu fiction. First published as Aag ka Darya in 1959, River of Fire encompasses the fates of four recurring characters over two and a half millennia: Gautam, Champa, Kamal, and Cyril-Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, and Christian. In different eras different relations form and reform among the four: romance and war, possession and dispossession. Interweaving parables, legends, dreams, diaries, and letters, Hyder's prose is lyrical and witty. And she argues for a culture that is inclusive: River of Fire is a book that insists on the irrelevance of religion in defining Indian identity.

Review:

Hyder is a wonderful writer. Hers is one of the most important Indian voices of the twentieth century. (Amitov Ghosh)

Review:

An Urdu classic with a breathtakingly vast canvas. (Outlook)

Review:

To Urdu fiction what A Hundred Years of Solitude is to Hispanic Literature. (Times Literary Supplement)

About the Author

Qurratulain Hyder is one of the leading writers of Urdu fiction in India. She was awarded the Bharatiya Gnapinth, India's highest literary award, in 1989.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
zehraimraan, April 28, 2008 (view all comments by zehraimraan)
Its a saga of generations, yet mine, my personal... Its a web of time, yet the eternity of this moment. Its a tale of four people, and they exist today, tomorrow, the same way they did yesterday. Simply spellbinding, simply connecting!
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780811215336
Translator:
Hyder, Qurratulain
Publisher:
New Directions Publishing Corporation
Translator:
Hyder, Qurratulain
Author:
Hyder, Qurratulain
Subject:
Literary
Publication Date:
June 2003
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
440
Dimensions:
804x510x116 108

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