नया क़ानून

मंटो अब तक #14

by Saadat Hasan Manto

90 pages, Hardcover

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

[Shrey Shukla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Manto's short stories are like a short visit to the not so distant past - the shared history and culture of countries that make Indian Subcontinent. The stories felt like a sane man's perspective of a world going insane- with hatred, distrust, irony, separation, unexpected unions and much more. They remind you like the birth of child, how the two nations were born amidst tears, chaos and shock. All presented with sharpness of observation and a wry sense of humour. Some stories however did feel like a unnecessary thrust of 'taboo topics' down reader's throat with no substantial story to tell.