Intizar Husain is recognized as one of the most significant fiction writers in Urdu. His work delves into themes of identity, migration, and cultural displacement with a distinctive narrative voice. Husain masterfully juxtaposes contemporary realities with visions of lost historical realms, creating richly layered and compelling stories. His fiction, deeply rooted in the tumultuous history of India and Pakistan, offers profound insights into the human condition.
The fifteenth stories in this volume, introduced by Alok Bhalla, Draw upon the rich narrative traditions of Hindu and Buddhist mythologies and characterize Intizar Husain's unique understanding of Muslim identity in the Indian subcontinent.
An NYRB Classics Original Basti is a beautifully written reckoning with the tragic history of Pakistan. Basti means settlement, a common place, and Intizar Husain’s extraordinary novel begins with a mythic, even mystic, vision of harmony between old and young, man and woman, Muslim and Hindu. Then Zakir, the hero, wakes to the modern world. Crowds gather. Slogans echo. Cities burn. Whether hunkered down with family or furtively meeting to exchange news with friends in cafés, Zakir is alone in a country lost to the politics of loneliness.
One of Pakistan's most distinguished writers, Intizar Husain was born in India in 1924 and emigrated to Pakistan during the Partition. Despite international acclaim, his work is little known in the West. Story Is a Vagabond is the first collection in English showing the breadth of his innovative and compassionate writing.