This text traces the development of Urdu literature from the earliest time to the 21st century. It contains biographical sketches of writers and critical appreciations of their work. An effort has been made to illustrate the relationships between the writers and their different movements.

Urdu language, member of the Indo-Aryan group within the Indo-European family of languages. Urdu is spoken by more than 100 million people, predominantly in Pakistan and India. It is the official state language of Pakistan and is also officially recognized, or "scheduled," in the constitution of India. Significant speech communities exist in the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States as well. Notably, Urdu and Hindi are mutually intelligible.Urdu developed in the 12th century CE from the regional Apabhramsha of northwestern India, serving as a linguistic modus vivendi after the Muslim conquest. Its first major poet was Amir Khosrow (1253-1325), who composed Dohas (couplets), folk songs, and riddles in the newly formed speech, then called Hindvi. This mixed speech was variously called Hindvi, Zaban-e-Hind, Hindi, Zaban-e-Delhi, Rekhta, Gujari, Dakkhani, Zaban-e-Urdu-e-Mualla, Zaban-e-Urdu, or just Urdu, literally 'the language of the camp.' Major Urdu writers continued to refer to it as Hindi or Hindvi until the beginning of the 19th century, although there is evidence that it was called Hindustani in the late 17th century (Hindustani now refers to a simplified speech form that is India's largest lingua franca).Urdu is closely related to Hindi, a language that originated and developed in the Indian subcontinent. They share the same Indic base and are so similar in phonology and grammar that they appear to be one language. In terms of lexicon, however, they have borrowed extensively from different sources--Urdu from Arabic and Persian, Hindi from Sanskrit--so they are usually treated as independent languages. Their distinction is most marked in terms of writing systems: Urdu uses a modified form of Perso-Arabic script, while Hindi uses Devanagari.

In late nineteenth-century South Asia, the arrival of print fostered a dynamic and interactive literary culture. There, within the pages of Urdu-language periodicals and newspapers, readers found a public sphere that not only catered to their interests but encouraged their reactions to featured content. Cosmopolitan Dreams brings this culture to light, showing how literature became a site in which modern daily life could be portrayed and satirized, the protocols of modernity challenged, and new futures imagined. Drawing on never-before-translated Urdu fiction and prose and focusing on the novel and satire, Jennifer Dubrow shows that modern Urdu literature was defined by its practice of self-critique and parody. Urdu writers resisted the cultural models offered by colonialism, creating instead a global community of imagination in which literary models could freely circulate and be readapted, mixed, and drawn upon to develop alternative lines of thinking. Highlighting the participation of readers and writers from diverse social and religious backgrounds, the book reveals an Urdu cosmopolis where lively debates thrived in newspapers, literary journals, and letters to the editor, shedding fresh light on the role of readers in shaping vernacular literary culture. Arguing against current understandings of Urdu as an exclusively Muslim language, Dubrow demonstrates that in the late nineteenth century, Urdu was a cosmopolitan language spoken by a transregional, transnational community that eschewed identities of religion, caste, and class. The Urdu cosmopolis pictured here was soon fractured by the forces of nationalism and communalism. Even so, Dubrow is able to establish the persistence of Urdu cosmopolitanism into the present and shows that Urdu’s strong tradition as a language of secular, critical modernity did not end in the late nineteenth century but continues to flourish in film, television, and on line. In lucid prose, Dubrow makes the dynamic world of colonial Urdu print culture come to life in a way that will interest scholars of modern Asian literatures, South Asian literature and history, cosmopolitanism, and the history of print culture.

This Path Breaking Work Raises Several New Questions About Urdu Literary Culture And Traces The Origins And Development Of Urdu Literary Thought From 1300 To 1850

The Book Seeks To Present A Compact Survey Of The Rich And Varied Contribution Of Urdu To The Indian Literary Mainstream Through Centuries Of Shared Creative Endeavour And Inspiration. Designed To Serve As A Reliable Guide For Interested Readers From Sister Languages, It Brings Into Focus The Currents And Cross Currents That Have Shaped Its History And Produced Personalities Of Distinction And Prestige Whose Works Have Stood The Test Of Time. The Lucid And Balanced Treatment Of Numerous Forms Of Poetry And Prose Has Both Range And Depth And Reveals A Broad Understanding Of The Historical Forces Behind Deviations From Convention And Transformations In Styles That Have Given Us Perennial Sources Of Joy And Intellectual Fulfilment.

Urdu Literary Culture examines the impact of political circumstances on vernacular (Urdu) literary culture through an in-depth study of the writings of Muhammad Hasan Askari, who lived during the Partition of India.

Though Barely A Hundred Years Old, The Urdu Short Story, Or Afsana', Has Established Itself At The Forefront Of Urdu Literature. Emerging As A Discrete Narrative Genre With Munshi Premchand, It Gained Momentum With The Progressive Writers' Movement In The 1930S. The Partition Of The Subcontinent In 1947 Introduced New Dynamics Into The Genre As Writers Grappled With Emerging Trends Of Modernism And Symbolism As Well As With A Depleted Readership In India And The Challenge Of Establishing A New Literary Tradition Commensurate With A New Nationhood In Pakistan. The Penguin Book Of Classic Urdu Stories Brings Together Sixteen Memorable Tales That Have Influenced Generations Of Readers. From Saadat Hasan Manto'S Immortal Partition Narrative Toba Tek Singh' And The Harrowing Realism Of Premchand'S The Shroud' To The Whimsical Strains Of Qurratulain Hyder'S Confessions Of St Flora Of Georgia' And The Daring Experimentation Of Khalida Husain'S Millipede', This Definitive Collection Represents The Best Of Short Fiction In Urdu. In The Process, It Provides A Glimpse Of The Works Of Acclaimed Masters On Both Sides Of The Border Ismat Chughtai And Ashfaq Ahmad, Rajinder Singh Bedi And Intizar Husain, Krishan Chander And Hasan Manzar, Naiyer Masud And Ikramullah.