Synopses & Reviews
In India’s colonial past, in a time of political and social revolution, Ismat Chughtai masterfully unfolds her magna opus, The Crooked Line: the semi-autobiographical tale of a fiery-spirited, middle-class Muslim girl bent on exploring the shape and nature of consuming desire. Writing with the same honesty and passion as her scandalous short-story, “The Quilt,” Chughtai exposes the complex relationships developed between women living and working in relative seclusion, and the intellectual and emotional contradictions lying in the heart of a rebellious country on the brink of independence from the British Raj and ultimately Partition.
Synopsis
The Crooked Line is the story of Shamman, a force of nature who rebels against attempts to raise her as a traditional Indian woman. Shipped off to boarding school by her family, she grows into a woman caught up in political unrest, and her passion for India's independence becomes entangled with her passion for an Irish journalist. Writing with honesty and passion, Ismat Chughtai exposes the complex relationships between women living and working in relative seclusion, and the intellectual and emotional contradictions lying in the heart of a rebellious country battling tradition, cultural expectations, and an uncertain future on the brink of independence from the British Raj and ultimately Partition.
Synopsis
A young Indian woman searches for her own identity as her country fights for independence in this novel from the award-winning Urdu Indian author.
The Crooked Line is the story of Shamman, a spirited young woman who rebels against the traditional Indian life of purdah, or female seclusion, that she and her sisters are raised in. Shipped off to boarding school by her family, Shamman grows into a woman of education and independence just as India itself is fighting to throw off the shackles of colonialism. Shamman's search for her own path leads her into the fray of political unrest, where her passion for her country's independence becomes entangled with her passion for an Irish journalist.
In this semi-autobiographical novel, Ismat Chughtai explores the complex relationships between women caught in a changing culture, and exposes the intellectual and emotional conflicts at the heart of India's battle for an uncertain future of independence from the British Raj and ultimately Partition.
Synopsis
Acknowledged masterpiece by foremost Indian woman writer compared to de Beavoir, the Brontës, and Camus.
About the Author
The first Muslim woman in India to obtain both a B.A. and a teaching degree, Ismat Chughtai (1915-1991) revolutionized Urdu literature. Her best-known and erotically charged work "The Quilt" exposed the relationship between a privileged woman and her maid, and touched off an obscenity trial that lasted four years. Accomplished translator of works by prominent Urdu women writers, Tahira Naqvi was born in Lahore, Pakistan and is herself a published short story writer (Attar of Roses and Dying in a Strange Country) working now on her first novel. She lives in the US and has taught Urdu at NYU and Columbia. Accomplished translator of works by prominent Urdu women writers, Tahira Naqvi was born in Lahore, Pakistan and is herself a published short story writer (Attar of Roses and Dying in a Strange Country) working now on her first novel. She lives in the US and has taught Urdu at NYU and Columbia.