Courtesans' Quarter

by Munshi Premchand, Ralph Russell (Foreword), Amina Azfar (Translator)

This is a translation of Munshi Premchand's Urdu novel, Bazaar-e-Husn , about a beautiful and ambitious woman who is trapped in a culture that binds her instincts and natural desires with the strictest of constraints.

280 pages, Paperback

First published December 18, 2003

About the author

Munshi Premchand (Hindi: मुंशी प्रेमचंद) was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. He is one of the most celebrated writers of the Indian subcontinent,and is regarded as one of the foremost Hindustani writers of the early twentieth century.

Born Dhanpat Rai, he began writing under the pen name "Nawab Rai", but subsequently switched to "Premchand", while he is also known as "Munshi Premchand", Munshi being an honorary prefix. A novel writer, story writer and dramatist, he has been referred to as the "Upanyas Samrat" ("Emperor among Novelists") by some Hindi writers. His works include more than a dozen novels, around 250 short stories, several essays and translations of a number of foreign literary works into Hindi.

Premchand is considered the first Hindi author whose writings prominently featured realism. His novels describe the problems of the poor and the urban middle-class. His works depict a rationalistic outlook, which views religious values as something that allows the powerful hypocrites to exploit the weak. He used literature for the purpose of arousing public awareness about national and social issues and often wrote about topics related to corruption, child widowhood, prostitution, feudal system, poverty, colonialism and on the India's freedom movement.

Several of his early works, such as A Little Trick and A Moral Victory, satirised the Indians who cooperated with the British colonial government.

In the 1920s, he was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's non-cooperation movement and the accompanying struggle for social reform. During this period, his works dealt with the social issues such as poverty, zamindari exploitation (Premashram, 1922), dowry system (Nirmala, 1925), educational reform and political oppression (Karmabhumi, 1931).

In his last days, he focused on village life as a stage for complex drama, as seen in his most famous work Godan as well as the short-story collection Kafan (1936).Premchand believed that social realism was the way for Hindi literature, as opposed to the "feminine quality", tenderness and emotion of the contemporary Bengali literature.

Reviews

[Daniel Polansky]

The fall of a Brahmin maid sets the stage for this social novel by one of India's first great modern novelists. Interesting as a historical object but I don't actually like social novels so this wasn't so much for me.

[Shaema Samia Imam · Rating 4 out of 5]

So grateful for this English translation so we can appreciate literature from this part of the world. It was interesting to see how writing can be a reflection of the day and a tool of politics as well. How best to assist sex workers and the complex services they provide in society is something people struggle with even today and everywhere in the world.

[Dhātturā · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only gave this book 3 stars because I didn't think the translation was great. It was not fluid at all, which perhaps is error of the prose into english. Also, the writing of the author was just... uncomfortable, thats the best way I can put it. Every-time he tried to convey an image it was so awkward, I was embarrassed for it to come to pass on the page! The plot was interesting, depressing, women are treated so poorly, but nonetheless somewhat entertaining and eye opening into the world of courtesans and the life of women in South Asia during this time period.

I was amused to learn this is supposed to be one of the great books in Urdu... maybe it is but just didn't translate well.

[Nazish · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read the English translation. My south Asian background helped me a lot in grasping the era, sociology and expression of this book. The story is engrossing and very realistic. For readers who are used to of happy endings (and seek Paulo Coelho's Eleven Minutes ending for every prostitute) will find it disturbing, will even hate it but the ending in my view, is the closest to the reality specially in an uber conservative society.
I give three stars because I am from happy ending creed.