A Thousand Yearnings: A Book of Urdu Poetry and Prose

For many people, Urdu is indelibly associated with a bygone era: the cultural renaissance of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the face of colonial oppression, heady mushairas and romantic poetry. For others, it brings to mind the gritty prose of the Progressive Writers portraying the grim social realities of the mid-twentieth century.In this luminous collection of Urdu poetry and prose, Ralph Russell expands our world of Urdu letters to include folk and oral narratives, besides prose and poetry. By situating each form historically, he gives us a refreshing perspective on the diverse literary cultures and histories of India.Besides canonical short stories by the likes of Manto and Premchand, there isIsmat Chughtai’s a little-known autobiographical essay about her relationship with her brother, the writer Azim Beg Chughtai.