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A Chughtai Quartet: Obsession, The Wild One, Wild Pigeons, The Heart Breaks Free
The four novellas in this volume span the inimitable Ismat Chughtai’s literary career, from 1939 to 1971. Each one develops the author’s central preoccupation with the lives of women as they experience love, tragedy, societal prescriptions and proscriptions, in collision with their own rebellious spirit. A keen sense of their individual subversive potential and a willingness to take the consequences of obduracy in the face of overwhelming odds, ensures that they are neither hapless nor victims. Through them Chughtai delivers a scathing critique on the hypocrisy and cant of social mores, and the festering maladies that infect society.
Chughtai’s characteristic mastery of form and technique, her vivid imagery and richness of language make for marvellous story-telling, and create some of the most memorable female protagonists in Indian literature.
300 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 25, 2015
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About the author
Ismat Chughtai
99 books313 followersIsmat Chughtai (Urdu: عصمت چغتائی) (August 1915 – 24 October 1991) was an eminent Urdu writer, known for her indomitable spirit and a fierce feminist ideology. She was considered the grand dame of Urdu fiction, Along with Rashid Jahan, Wajeda Tabassum and Qurratulain Hyder, Ismat’s work stands for the birth of a revolutionary feminist politics and aesthetics in twentieth century Urdu literature. She explored feminine sexuality, middle-class gentility, and other evolving conflicts in the modern Muslim world. Her outspoken and controversial style of writing made her the passionate voice for the unheard, and she has become an inspiration for the younger generation of writers, readers and intellectuals.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 10, 2021
The Chughtai Quartet by Ismat Chugtai, trans. by Tahira Naqvi from Women Unlimited, is one of those rare books which gives you the goosebumps to have found and read.
Chughtai is one of my all time favourite Indian authors and here I went on a 4 stories journey from the beginning of her career till the end and in each story you see a voice that’s becoming sharper by the day!
Ahh how much I love The Heart Break Free with a mystical free woman at the heart of it. Bua is the lover of the high priest, who is content in love, till the humans force her to become a more normal woman! This transition is so beautiful and melancholic at the same time that you cannot but feel angry with the world, trying to impose normalness.
And what is normal and how much of it one can a woman take becomes the connecting tissue across the three remaining stories.
You see a young girl kill herself with her lover on a bed of fire, a wife who treats her infidel husband with so much understanding that it shatters their life together and a young woman who is victimised by the greed of an older man, uphold so much societal injustice and hypocrisy that at one point you are like does this never end! Does the world ever get better for women? A question I am asking regularly these days with what’s going on in Afghanistan!
And yet Chughtai’s heroines are unlikely victims. None of them are simpering misses. They run away, die for love and uphold their sense of self in the most underrated ways possible. I kept marvelling at both the injustices but also the quiet power of these protagonists and this is quintessentially Chughtai. No women of hers is a pure victim. They suffer in the hands of society but they also know how to deal with extraordinary odds that are stacked against them with a rare sang froid.
What can I say but read it to get a taste of Indian literature in translation at its best. This is a truly unique book that gives you a glimpse of an author at four critical junctures of their growth. You see the stories becoming shorter, the dialogues becoming crisper and the imagery becoming more free and cutting. You are left wondering how does a book getter better than this?
Chughtai is one of my all time favourite Indian authors and here I went on a 4 stories journey from the beginning of her career till the end and in each story you see a voice that’s becoming sharper by the day!
Ahh how much I love The Heart Break Free with a mystical free woman at the heart of it. Bua is the lover of the high priest, who is content in love, till the humans force her to become a more normal woman! This transition is so beautiful and melancholic at the same time that you cannot but feel angry with the world, trying to impose normalness.
And what is normal and how much of it one can a woman take becomes the connecting tissue across the three remaining stories.
You see a young girl kill herself with her lover on a bed of fire, a wife who treats her infidel husband with so much understanding that it shatters their life together and a young woman who is victimised by the greed of an older man, uphold so much societal injustice and hypocrisy that at one point you are like does this never end! Does the world ever get better for women? A question I am asking regularly these days with what’s going on in Afghanistan!
And yet Chughtai’s heroines are unlikely victims. None of them are simpering misses. They run away, die for love and uphold their sense of self in the most underrated ways possible. I kept marvelling at both the injustices but also the quiet power of these protagonists and this is quintessentially Chughtai. No women of hers is a pure victim. They suffer in the hands of society but they also know how to deal with extraordinary odds that are stacked against them with a rare sang froid.
What can I say but read it to get a taste of Indian literature in translation at its best. This is a truly unique book that gives you a glimpse of an author at four critical junctures of their growth. You see the stories becoming shorter, the dialogues becoming crisper and the imagery becoming more free and cutting. You are left wondering how does a book getter better than this?
April 14, 2019
This is a compulsively readable collection of stories. The first and fourth stories are the standouts. The first is an excellent exploration of how women trapped in confining spaces/roles either tear down those freer than themselves or find a way to rebel. All four stories are vicious in their condemnation of the social mores of the upper class/caste characters in the stories. The latter three stories also skewer cowardly male characters who are bold in professing love to women in private but craven when it comes to standing up for these women in public.
There is a violence lurking in the text, in the descriptions and metaphors, that feels immediately true to the stories being told despite the fact that the stories themselves involve very little physical violence. This reflects the violence of the social power structures that are unmasked in Chughtais stories, e.g. the pain inherent in the relationships between household servants and household members.
I thought Naqvi did a better job translating these Chughtai stories than some of her other translations. Hopefully her translation of the crooked line is on the better side too.
There is a violence lurking in the text, in the descriptions and metaphors, that feels immediately true to the stories being told despite the fact that the stories themselves involve very little physical violence. This reflects the violence of the social power structures that are unmasked in Chughtais stories, e.g. the pain inherent in the relationships between household servants and household members.
I thought Naqvi did a better job translating these Chughtai stories than some of her other translations. Hopefully her translation of the crooked line is on the better side too.
October 19, 2020
This anthology comprises 4 novellas by the celebrated Ismat Chugtai namely, Obsession, Wild Pigeons, The heart breaks free and The wild one. Each of the novellas deals with the central theme of liberation and emancipation, love, and betrayal.
She crafts her characters masterfully, with layered detailing that transitions by the end of the story. Her characters are flawed and rebellious. Each story is beautifully narrated, through elaborate descriptions of characters and scenes. You can almost play each scene in your head, the way it is written. I think the fact that many of her stories were directly adapted into Bollywood films, often by her husband is a testimony to the compelling portrayals.
It was difficult to leave each story and I had to complete each at one go due to the sheer nature of her narratives. The rich and lucid language found an excellent translator so much so that the emotions were rightly delivered.
This was my first Chugtai collection and I am glad that I got to read it in such great translation. Although, I'll give it a shot at its original whenever I get a grasp over the language.
She crafts her characters masterfully, with layered detailing that transitions by the end of the story. Her characters are flawed and rebellious. Each story is beautifully narrated, through elaborate descriptions of characters and scenes. You can almost play each scene in your head, the way it is written. I think the fact that many of her stories were directly adapted into Bollywood films, often by her husband is a testimony to the compelling portrayals.
It was difficult to leave each story and I had to complete each at one go due to the sheer nature of her narratives. The rich and lucid language found an excellent translator so much so that the emotions were rightly delivered.
This was my first Chugtai collection and I am glad that I got to read it in such great translation. Although, I'll give it a shot at its original whenever I get a grasp over the language.
January 29, 2020
Whenever I read Ismat Chughtai I constantly make little exclamation marks at anything I like, which is to say happens a lot! This week read is Chughtai’s A Quartet: The Heart Breaks Free, The Wild One, Obsession and Wild Pigeons. Stories of four women as they try to break out of the shackles created by other women, rather than men. Be it Quidsia Apa, Asha, or Abida, Chughtai reflects upon how patriarchal control and threats to the dignity of women are normalized.
Abida’s story from Wild Pigeon hit me & inspired me the most, her husband cheats on her but after the painful aftermath of this revelation, she collects herself and stands her ground without submitting to whining or despondence.
I have never been so influenced by any other writer as much as I have been with Chughtai after Emily Dickinson, Elif Shafak and Khaled Hosseini. They just remind me how pain and despair can be used constructively to transform and uplift not just our lives but the world in general and free it from the prejudices and regressive outlook that exploits those with no power.
Abida’s story from Wild Pigeon hit me & inspired me the most, her husband cheats on her but after the painful aftermath of this revelation, she collects herself and stands her ground without submitting to whining or despondence.
I have never been so influenced by any other writer as much as I have been with Chughtai after Emily Dickinson, Elif Shafak and Khaled Hosseini. They just remind me how pain and despair can be used constructively to transform and uplift not just our lives but the world in general and free it from the prejudices and regressive outlook that exploits those with no power.
March 8, 2019
2019: 29
.
🍁
.
Last read of February!
Obsessions and Wild Pigeons
Ismat Chughtai
.
.
Another empowering work by Ismat Chughtai!
In these two novellas, she speaks of female sexuality in a whole new light. The lens through which she establishes the strength of her characters is commendable. The sharpness of her words does justice to this real yet collectively denied facet of our society.
I cannot help but wonder how challenging it would have been for Ismat Chughtai to survive in a time like hers and still come out so strongly in her words. Nothing but more respect for her!
A 4 on 5.
. 🍁
.
#bookstagramindia #bookstagrammer #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #review #bookreview #readdreamrepeat #blogger #bookblogger #delhibookstagrammer #indianblogger #igreads #delhiblogger #unitedbookstagram #indianauthor #february #februaryreads #shortbooks #slaythattbr #feminism #femalesexuality #feminismreads #ismatchugtai
29 down @htbrunch #htbrunchbookchallenge #BrunchBookChallenge #htbrunch
.
🍁
.
Last read of February!
Obsessions and Wild Pigeons
Ismat Chughtai
.
.
Another empowering work by Ismat Chughtai!
In these two novellas, she speaks of female sexuality in a whole new light. The lens through which she establishes the strength of her characters is commendable. The sharpness of her words does justice to this real yet collectively denied facet of our society.
I cannot help but wonder how challenging it would have been for Ismat Chughtai to survive in a time like hers and still come out so strongly in her words. Nothing but more respect for her!
A 4 on 5.
. 🍁
.
#bookstagramindia #bookstagrammer #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #review #bookreview #readdreamrepeat #blogger #bookblogger #delhibookstagrammer #indianblogger #igreads #delhiblogger #unitedbookstagram #indianauthor #february #februaryreads #shortbooks #slaythattbr #feminism #femalesexuality #feminismreads #ismatchugtai
29 down @htbrunch #htbrunchbookchallenge #BrunchBookChallenge #htbrunch
November 4, 2018
Bad translation! V affected, and fake. Doesn't get the spirit of the book, which is inimitable, as yet.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews