A Life In Words

A Life in Words, the first complete translation of her celebrated memoir Kaghazi hai Pairahan, provides an authentic and delightful account of several crucial years of Ismat???s life. Presented along with the vivid and high-energy descriptions of her childhood years are the conflicted experiences of growing up in a large Muslim family during the early decades of the twentieth century. We get an intimate view of a writer???s fierce struggle to find her own voice and depict with passion and precision the visible and subtle tyrannies of contemporary society. A Life in Words is a searingly honest and compellingly readable memoir of the life of one of the most significant Urdu writers of all time.

About the Author
Ismat Chughtai (1911???1991) was Urdu???s most courageous and controversial woman writer in the twentieth century. She carved a niche for herself among her contemporaries of Urdu fiction writers???Rajinder Singh Bedi, Saadat Hasan Manto and Krishan Chander???by introducing areas of experience not explored before. Her work not only transformed the complexion of Urdu fiction, it brought about an attitudinal change in the assessment of literary works. Although a spirited member of the Progressive Writers??? Movement in India, she spoke vehemently against its orthodoxy and inflexibility. Often perceived of as a feminist writer, Chughtai explored female sexuality while also exploring other dimensions of social and existential reality.

M. Asaduddin is an author, critic and translator. His work has been recognized with the Sahitya Akademi Prize, and the KATHA and A.K. Ramanujan awards for translation. He is currently Professor, Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia.