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Distant Traveller: New and Selected Fiction
The accidental discovery of chapters from an unfinished novel and of unpublished stories, made the publication of this anthology of Attia Hosain’s new and selected fiction an inevitability.
Attia’s two worlds – the Lucknow she grew up in and the London she later lived and worked in – intersect and mesh in the stories and novel excerpts presented here, reflecting her deep and abiding concern with those caught in the cleft stick of history, and how they come to terms with it.
The distinctive quality of her prose – subtle, elegant, with an uncanny ear for dialogue and sharp, yet sympathetic observation – is displayed to stunning effect as she delineates the tension and pathos of lives and societies in transition.
Attia Hosain (1913-1998) was born in Lucknow and educated at La Martiniere and Isabella Thoburn College, blending an English liberal education with that of a traditional Muslim household where she was taught Persian, Urdu and Arabic. Influenced in the 1930s by the nationalist movement and the Progressive Writers’ Group in India, she became a journalist, broadcaster and writer. In 1947 she moved to England and presented her own women’s programme on the BBC Eastern Service for many years, and appeared on television and the West End stage. She is the author of Phoenix Fled, a collection of short stories, and Sunlight on a Broken Column, a novel.
Attia’s two worlds – the Lucknow she grew up in and the London she later lived and worked in – intersect and mesh in the stories and novel excerpts presented here, reflecting her deep and abiding concern with those caught in the cleft stick of history, and how they come to terms with it.
The distinctive quality of her prose – subtle, elegant, with an uncanny ear for dialogue and sharp, yet sympathetic observation – is displayed to stunning effect as she delineates the tension and pathos of lives and societies in transition.
Attia Hosain (1913-1998) was born in Lucknow and educated at La Martiniere and Isabella Thoburn College, blending an English liberal education with that of a traditional Muslim household where she was taught Persian, Urdu and Arabic. Influenced in the 1930s by the nationalist movement and the Progressive Writers’ Group in India, she became a journalist, broadcaster and writer. In 1947 she moved to England and presented her own women’s programme on the BBC Eastern Service for many years, and appeared on television and the West End stage. She is the author of Phoenix Fled, a collection of short stories, and Sunlight on a Broken Column, a novel.
- GenresIndia
234 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2013
3 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
Attia Hosain
11 books42 followersAttia Hosain (1913–1998) was a writer, feminist and broadcaster. She was born in 1913 in Lucknow in a taluqdar background. She moved to Britain in 1947.
Attia was born in Lucknow and went to the local La Martiniere Girls' College. She was the daughter of Sheikh Shahid Husain Kidwai and Nisar Fatima, the daughter of Syed Maqbool Hussain Alvi of Kakori.
She studied at Isabella Thoburn College from the age of fifteen and Lucknow University.
She moved to Britain in 1947 and became a broadcaster for the BBC, hosting a popular women's radio programme.
Attia's niece is the Pakistani author Muneeza Shamsie and her great-niece is author Kamila Shamsie. British television director Waris Hussein is her son and film producer Shama Habibullah is her daughter.
(from Wikipedia)
Attia was born in Lucknow and went to the local La Martiniere Girls' College. She was the daughter of Sheikh Shahid Husain Kidwai and Nisar Fatima, the daughter of Syed Maqbool Hussain Alvi of Kakori.
She studied at Isabella Thoburn College from the age of fifteen and Lucknow University.
She moved to Britain in 1947 and became a broadcaster for the BBC, hosting a popular women's radio programme.
Attia's niece is the Pakistani author Muneeza Shamsie and her great-niece is author Kamila Shamsie. British television director Waris Hussein is her son and film producer Shama Habibullah is her daughter.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 23, 2018
Attia Hussain was born in Lucknow but moved to London in 47. She kept holding her English nationality because she wanted to travel to India and Pakistan, both. Therefore, two cultures viz Lucknow's and London's were involved in the development of her personality. This thing is clearly visible in her writings.
This book comprised of her unpublished works which were compiled and published posthumously. The theme of these stories was many social issues that had encompassed Attia's life.
Two, three short stories were extraordinarily beautiful, others were just fine. But overall it was a good read.
This book comprised of her unpublished works which were compiled and published posthumously. The theme of these stories was many social issues that had encompassed Attia's life.
Two, three short stories were extraordinarily beautiful, others were just fine. But overall it was a good read.
January 18, 2018
Review in process.
November 14, 2022
“I absorbed hate for this country to which I have sworn loyalty, with my mother’s milk…I grew up with words in my mouth that today I must swallow. See, they do not choke me. Because I learned to swallow words before, not with glory but with dust and ashes……Tell me, then, who I am, what I am, with no roots attached to any piece of earth, a creature mechanically walking and talking, with no sense of history any more…. What language is mine now?”
When I finished the introductory foreword written by Attia’s daughter for her mother, I was highly impressed by the persona of Attia Hossein, furthermore the knowledge that she belonged to a generation of such highly recognized and celebrated Pakistani authors, my excitement to dive into her works grew by ten folds.
Attia grew up in a house in Lucknow where the feudal and conservative muslim thought and yet political activism with white men came together. When moved to Britain she wrote, for journals and for herself, she was also a broadcaster for BBC.
Her work revolves around some of the themes that hit home for me; partition, post-colonialism, subcontinental browniness, immigrant’s alienness and gender.
Her melancholic prose reflects her mind and soul. Her longing, her awareness of being an alien in the land where she decided to stay rather than returning back to home was tangible in her work.
Although, She herself wrote about the hindrance and limitation of transfer of local thoughts and feelings into a foreign language yet she decided to write in English. And I could feel it too at times, when the local characters conversed about local situations, reading that in a foreign language gave me the sense of being an ‘Outsider’.
I felt her narrative to be monotonous, poetic and elegant yet and focused on putting her heart out. The desire for her own people to be heard, for her own sex to be recognized overshadowed her stories and characters.
A few short stories that I loved in this collection were
The Storm
Coolie
Parrot in a Cage
The Daughter-in-Law
When I finished the introductory foreword written by Attia’s daughter for her mother, I was highly impressed by the persona of Attia Hossein, furthermore the knowledge that she belonged to a generation of such highly recognized and celebrated Pakistani authors, my excitement to dive into her works grew by ten folds.
Attia grew up in a house in Lucknow where the feudal and conservative muslim thought and yet political activism with white men came together. When moved to Britain she wrote, for journals and for herself, she was also a broadcaster for BBC.
Her work revolves around some of the themes that hit home for me; partition, post-colonialism, subcontinental browniness, immigrant’s alienness and gender.
Her melancholic prose reflects her mind and soul. Her longing, her awareness of being an alien in the land where she decided to stay rather than returning back to home was tangible in her work.
Although, She herself wrote about the hindrance and limitation of transfer of local thoughts and feelings into a foreign language yet she decided to write in English. And I could feel it too at times, when the local characters conversed about local situations, reading that in a foreign language gave me the sense of being an ‘Outsider’.
I felt her narrative to be monotonous, poetic and elegant yet and focused on putting her heart out. The desire for her own people to be heard, for her own sex to be recognized overshadowed her stories and characters.
A few short stories that I loved in this collection were
The Storm
Coolie
Parrot in a Cage
The Daughter-in-Law
January 28, 2020
Book is a collection of an unfinished novel of the author and short stories full of human observation and internal feelings to the world’s exposure. Having lived with multiple culture’s influences the author presented the deep simple observation of the characters and our society of the time, it gives a reflection of the culture and heritage of the subcontinent. Life of local people and their adoption of culture and expression gives the reader true experience of the time and her characters are alive and they are still living among us. A great addition to the literature.
November 14, 2020
This book contains slice of life short stories, some of them were good but the characters were not strongly built.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews