My Name is Radha: The Essential Manto

by Saadat Hasan Manto

The prevalent trend of classifying Manto’s work into a) stories of Partition and b) stories of prostitutes forcibly enlists the writer to perform a dramatic dressing-down of society. But neither Partition nor prostitution gave birth to the genius of Saadat Hasan Manto. They only furnished him with an occasion to reveal the truth of the human condition.
My Name Is Radha is a path-breaking selection of stories which delves deep into Manto’s creative world. In this singular collection, the focus rests on Manto the writer. It does not draft him into being Manto the commentator. Muhammad Umar Memon’s inspired choice of Manto’s best-known stories, along with those less talked about, and his precise and elegant translation showcase an astonishing writer being true to his calling.

Genres: India, Short Stories, Fiction, Pakistan

497 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Saadat Hasan Manto (Urdu: سعادت حسن منٹو, Hindi: सआदत हसन मंटो), the most widely read and the most controversial short-story writer in Urdu, was born on 11 May 1912 at Sambrala in Punjab's Ludhiana District. In a writing career spanning over two decades he produced twenty-two collections of short stories, one novel, five collections of radio plays, three collections of essays, two collections of reminiscences and many scripts for films. He was tried for obscenity half a dozen times, thrice before and thrice after independence. Not always was he acquitted. Some of Manto's greatest work was produced in the last seven years of his life, a time of great financial and emotional hardship for him. He died a few months short of his forty-third birthday, in January 1955, in Lahore.

Reviews

[Mah-i-kan Kurd]

Probably my favourite Manto story.

[Maarya Abbasi]

i felt less obnoxious ~diasporic discontent~ after reading this. typical. and also upset bc my urdu lit knowledge is weaker than my stamina in a hypothetical marathon that i'd never run. manto runs with the undercurrent of like male gaze -lite but at least it's -lite. meaning that he attempts to be above it all but fails. mainly when it gets voyeur-y at times. contains: beautiful writing, interesting and surprising and diverse stylistic choices, metaphors and triple/quadruple/djaksl meanings out the ass, etc.

[Satyajeet]

the translation is good. A good numbers of short stories of Manto in one place including some of his essays and a few others, one last one by the translator himself. some of the works I had read in other collections.

My Name Is Radha

Scorned
Janki

Mozel

The Black Shalwar

Siraj

Sharda

Babu Gopinath

Yazeed

Ram Khilawan

Sahae

Khushia

Toba Tek Singh

The Testament of Gurmukh Singh

For Freedom’s Sake

The Last Salute

A Tale of the Year 1919

Frozen

Open It!

Empty Bottles, Empty Cans

A Progressive

Pleasure of Losing

God–Man

I’m No Good for You!

The Revolt of Monkeys

Gilgit Khan

Martyr-Maker

Recite the Kalima!

Barren

Behind the Reed Stalks

Smell


Kingdom’s End

By the Roadside

Tassels

Hindi–Urdu

Upper, Lower, Middle

Green Sandals

The Gold Ring

Turnips

In this Maelstrom (A Melodrama)

The Fifth Trial

Manto and I.....

https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/pV5W...

[Karandeep]

My name is Radha - Penguin Petit.

It's a short story, the translation is to the point and the Kindle version syncs well. I love how Manto depicts his women - confident and fiesty. This story too is not so different, a fiesty woman who, I think, knew what she wanted in life and kinds of gets it in the absolute end.

I think, I'd love to call Manto the best melancholic story teller to have been born in the Indian Subcontinent. The way he wrote his stories, if translated perfectly, will stay with you for a long long time.

[Pallavi Kamat]

So, I finally managed to finish reading this book. Not sure if short stories aren't meant for me or I didn't particularly enjoy Manto's stories but after a while, I was kind of bored.

The stories seemed to repeat themselves after some pages. I couldn't understand some of the stories.

Maybe I need to read up a bit on Manto before I read any more of his books. The essays at the end made for some good reading though.

[Prasad GR]

I couldn’t have picked a better introduction to Manto. The quality of translation is top notch. In fact, it’s so good that from time to time I had to remind myself that Manto didn’t write in English. And the collection of stories is delectable to say the least. What completes this are a handful of nonfiction pieces, both by Manto and a few others, that provide context and help the novice reader place the stories and their author in the right spot and time.

As for the stories themselves, they are a revelation in short story writing. The relentless focus on the characters themselves and their unexplainable, and sometimes crazy, actions, sucks us in. That Manto could achieve it in a matter of a few pages is incredible. The oddball characters are quite interesting too and come as a breath of fresh air as one doesn’t come across them too often in fiction.

All in all, a deeply satisfying read that is worth revisiting whenever the soul seeks a shower.

[Girl from Mumbai]

“My name is Radha” is a collection of short stories written by one of the most iconic writers of his or even our times ‘Manto’.

Considered as the ‘enfant terrible’ of Urdu Literature his stories are real, his characters so ordinary that they almost seem extraordinary. Often stereotyped as a writer of partition and prostitutes he was condemned for corrupting the youth with writings of debauchery and vulgarity. However, Manto being Manto did not care about the opinions of others. Heavily influenced by the politics of his time, his pen dripped with sarcasm and his stories pierced the reader's soul, reminding us of the levity of humanity.

He wrote for women at a time, when their voices were suppressed and could not be heard. Whether it is the wannabe actress Neelam, who is in love with the much-married star Raj Kishore only to find the object of her desire unworthy. Or the prostitute Sugandhi, who despite being tired of life, sells her body night and day to all sorts of men. Used and abused by every man she meets, she isn’t spared even by the one who she loves and who wants her to give up her trade. Many such women are hiding in this book. The damsel in distress Janaki, the spunky Mozel who is loved passionately by Kripal Singh but gets abandoned when he cannot see past her religion. There is Sultana, another prostitute who is conned into giving away everything she owns to the men who claim to love her. And there is Sharda, who leaves Nazir, the man she loves with utmost devotion because he doesn’t believe in love. We also catch a glimpse of the evil side of love when the scorned Shahina kills for love. Manto doesn’t judge these fallen women; he doesn’t condemn, he just tells us their side of the story, making them vulnerable and human.

There are also tales of men like the lunatic ‘Toba Tek Singh’ (one of Manto’s most famous stories) who becomes another casualty during the partition between India and Pakistan when the governments of both the countries could not decide what to do with the madmen. Stories interweaved together in the same vein, which when you read make you feel that time has stood still and you are in the middle of an era where all you can see is the travesty of human nature and what we do to our kind. People from a different time, emotions of a different kind but still raw and edgy as if the wounds were just cast upon a lonely soul.

This book is a must-read for anyone who wants a deeper insight on pre and post partition literature and the legacy that was left behind by the man we know as “Saadat Hasan Manto.”

[Noor Anand]

I’m not a fan of short-stories in general, but I do appreciate their merits. Often, this medium of writing can send a strong message, where novels or novellas fall short. Manto effectively uses this medium to show the world its own reflection. He has an unparalleled knack for dispassionately observing the dark underbelly of life, and penning it beautifully on paper.
I highly recommend this book to first-time readers of Manto, as it’s a fantastic introduction to his work. I also recommend it to readers who are unaware of this writer, yet have an interest in South Asian history and social comportment. For fans of Manto, this book is essential reading.
For a full and detailed review of the book, visit my blog at nooranandchawla.com.

[Sadaf]

It is an interesting collection of stories. I have never read Manto before, apart from hearing Gulzar Saab reading out Toba Tek Singh at a literature festival. This is a good collection such that it shows the well known as well as not know stories of Manto. It shows him in various different lights. Some stories are inherently personal and closer to him while in some, he has adopted a lens from faraway. The black shalwar is one quintessential story. Towards the end of the book, we learn about his personal struggle with how contemporary writing is, as well as litigation against him for so called obscenity in his stories.

[Divyaroop Bhatnagar]

The usual stereotypes of Bollywood are blown away in these stories. In a sense they are feminist as even the sex worker has a place in society. These are raw stories. Read them with an open mind to really get a glimpse of a society which no longer exists.

[Udit Singh]

Manto is the King of eccentric feelings and helps me take pride in them. I love this.

[Debojyoty Datta]

Excellent !!! 😆😆😆😆

The central character is quite good but which I myself was fond of that how the name "Radha" has been justified here.

[Geoff]

Edgy and thought provoking. An excellent collection of short stories showing the quality and sophistication of writers in the subcontinent in the early 20th century. Thanks to biwi for this one.

[Satabdi Bhattacharya]

An excellent collection of short stories written by Manto.

[Abdullah Thakur]

"Hunger breeds madmen; madness doesn’t create hunger."
A must read, compelling and essential collection of short stories of Manto.

[Tanvi Agarwal]

”If you find my stories dirty, the society you are living in is dirty. With my stories, I only expose the truth,” said Manto.

The stories are more like social commentary and truth bombs about the realities of the society and the human conditioning specially women in pre and post independence era