Saadat Hasan Manto: Remembering the literary legacy of the playwright and author

A nonconformist writer who was deeply affected by the reality of the socio-political structure, and communal and regional divide of the time, Manto produced some of the best works during the last seven years of his life

Saadat Hassan Manto, a short story writer of the Urdu language. E(xpress archive photo by Khatir Ghaznavi)

A prolific writer and playwright, Saadat Hasan Manto was born on this day in Ludhiana in 1912. He died young, in his early 40s, but over the short course of his life, produced over 20 collections of short stories, a novel, radio plays, and essays. Despite his love for Bombay and intention to stay in the city, Manto migrated to Lahore, Pakistan.

A nonconformist writer who was deeply affected by the reality of the socio-political structure and communal and regional divide of the time, Manto produced some of the best works in the last seven years of his life when he was going through great financial and emotional hardships. Manto passed away on January 18, 1955.

On his birth anniversary, looking back at some of his most celebrated works that are milestones in the literature of the Partition:

Toba Tek Singh

A powerful satire on the partition of India and Pakistan, the short story Toba Tek Singh follows inmates of Lahore asylum some of whom are being transferred to India.

ALSO READ | Manto’s birthplace Ludhiana left craving for Manto on screen

Bombay Stories

Bombay was Manto’s forever muse, and his book Bombay Stories paints a vivid picture of the mid-century Bombay’s underbelly—from the prostitutes, pimps, and gangsters that filled its streets to the aspiring writers and actors who arrived looking for fame.

Thanda Gosht

The story for which Manto faced a trial in criminal court for obscenity, Thanda Gosht is about the sordid reality of the communal violence of 1947, told through Ishwar Singh, his mistress Kalwant, a murder, and a confession.

ALSO READ | Saadat Hasan Manto death anniversary: Three authors recount the ways he helped them (un)learn

Bitter Fruit

Bitter Fruit is a collection of Manto’s short stories, plays and sketches, portraits of cinema artistes, a few pieces on himself, and his letters to Uncle Sam with references to communism, Russia, politics after the Partition and his own financial condition.

Kingdom’s End: Selected Stories

Published posthumously in 1987, Kingdom’s End includes 24 short stories consisting one of the former anthologies in English of Manto’s work.

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First uploaded on: 11-05-2022 at 14:39 IST

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