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This selection from Ismat Chughtai's prose writing comprising essays, commentaries, reminiscences, and pen- portraits of her well-known contemporaries, gives the reader a good idea of the artistic, political and social mores of her times.

Ismat Chugtai established herself as a stalwart of Urdu fiction when writing by and about women was both rare and tentative. This selection from Ismat Chughtai's prose writing comprising essays, commentaries, reminiscences, and pen- portraits of her well-known contemporaries, gives the reader a good idea of the artistic, political and social mores of her times. It serves both as a background to her own work and furnishes insights into the art and lives of her contemporaries.

Chugtai's involvement with the Progressive Writers' Association and her friendship with writers like Sa'adat Hasan Manto, Patras Bokhari, Krishan Chander, Rajinder Singh Bedi, and others have resulted in a treasure-trove of writing, marked by her characteristic irreverence and wit.

THE TRANSLATOR:

Raised and educated in Lahore; Pakistan, TAHIRA NAQVI is now settled in the US. She teaches English and has translated the works of Sa'adat Hasan Manto, Khadija Mastur and Ismat Chugtai. She also writes fiction in English. 'Attar of Roses and Other Stories of Pakistan' is her first collection, and a second entitled 'Dying in a Strange Country' is forthcoming.